California Steps Back from Dangerous Expansion of Its Age-Gating Law
5 hours ago
- #privacy
- #age-gating
- #legislation
- The California legislature has scaled back A.B. 1856, removing provisions that would have extended the state's age-gating law to browsers and websites, mitigating risks to speech, privacy, and security.
- EFF still opposes the underlying law A.B. 1043, which requires operating systems and app stores to collect user ages and block lawful content for minors, potentially leading to invasive age verification methods like ID checks and biometric scanning.
- EFF appreciates the exemption for open-source operating systems in A.B. 1856 and has removed its opposition to the bill, while continuing to criticize A.B. 1043 for threatening online anonymity, privacy, and security.
- EFF maintains that age verification mandates, part of a broader trend, are dangerous as they risk data breaches and misuse, and advocates for no age verification requirements for internet access.