"A.B. 1043 requires all operating systems and app stores to create age bracketing systems that will segment their users based on their ages. Users are then required to provide operating systems and apps their birth date or age so that they can be placed in their respective age bracket. A.B. 1043 also requires application and software developers to collect this age bracket information when a user want to use that software or application."
"A.B. 1043 treats the age-bracket signal sent by a user as giving the application or service actual knowledge of users' ages. Knowledge that the user is a minor could provide the basis for liability under other laws, such as California Age-Appropriate Design Code. The result is a recipe for censorship."
"Such mandates strike at the foundation of the free and open internet. They create unnecessary and unconstitutional barriers for adults and young people to access information and express themselves online. They hurt small and open-source developers. And none of the available age verification options are perfect in terms of protecting private information, providing access to everyone, and safely handling sensitive data."
A.B. 1043, California legislation taking effect in 2027, requires operating systems and app stores to implement age-bracketing systems that segment users by age. Users must provide birth dates or ages to be placed in appropriate brackets, and developers must collect this information. The law treats age-bracket signals as actual knowledge of user ages, creating liability concerns under other laws like California's Age-Appropriate Design Code. This structure incentivizes developers to exclude users identified as minors or those outside acceptable age brackets, resulting in widespread internet censorship. EFF opposes this approach, arguing it prioritizes censorship over privacy protection and creates barriers for both adults and young people accessing information and expressing themselves online.
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
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