Enshrining age verification laws nationwide presents a series of perilous privacy concerns.
(Liam Dawe) We’ve covered here before on individual US states setting up their own age verification laws, and now a new US Congress bill has been proposed for it. If passed, this would then potentially set it all up to be nation-wide across the entirety of the US.
The bill was introduced on April 13th and has been referred to the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce. It’s being sponsored by the Democratic party’s Josh Gottheimer, with it being co-sponsored by Republican Elise M. Stefanik so it has bipartisan support.
The current concerning thing – is that the actual bill text doesn’t seem to have been provided yet. All we know is the main introduction title of: “To require operating system providers to verify the age of any user of an operating system, and for other purposes”.
It could go either way with it simply asking for people to enter their date of birth or more concerning is actual proper verification using some form of ID. The other bit about it being for “other purposes” also leaves me with a rather uneasy feeling. These types of bills we’ve seen elsewhere are always a first step towards something worse. They all mean less privacy, less freedom, more tracking and a potential for more security problems when things inevitably get leaked somewhere.
This appears to be part of the “Parents Decide Act” announced earlier in April by Gottheimer, as just one step in the process. So expect a lot more to come. Some bullet point plans from it:
- Require operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages when setting up a new device, rather than relying on self-reported ages.
- Allow parents to set age-appropriate content controls from the start, including limiting access to social media, apps, and AI platforms.
- Ensure that age and parental settings securely flow to apps and AI platforms, so content is tailored appropriately for children.
- Prevent children from accessing harmful or explicit content — including inappropriate AI chatbot interactions — by creating a consistent, trusted standard across platforms.
Currently, the bill is only in the introductory stage so it hasn’t yet passed and become law, so if this is important to you in the US you may want to speak to your representatives.
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