Age Verification Laws are coming Link to heading
In October 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1043, the Digital Age Assurance Act into law and it’s a terrible. The law’s stated intention is to protect children from being exposed mature content by forcing operating systems to require age verification for each account then provide an API for websites, apps, games, and every other piece of software can use to route the user to various levels of content based on the age. Huge fines will be issue to the operating system provided per failure to verify age. At the point of writing this, I believe California is the first state to pass a law like this but many more states are drafting similar laws.
The (Many) Problems? Link to heading
Legislators don’t know what they’re talking about. Link to heading
Clearly none of the legislators actually know anything about technology and are just listening to Meta/Facebook’s lobbyists that want to push the responsibility of age verification off of them and onto someone else. The law itself does not specify how the age verification will be implemented and is so broad that it also includes basically every device that connects to the internet. Since now every device seems to require internet access, that means every single one of your smart bulbs, your smart fridge, robot vacuum, your car, your gaming system and every other smart device you own.
It also doesn’t take into account opensource software like Linux. Many distros of linux don’t have a large or any company backing them. It’s a distributed group of people that volunteer their time and expertise to make and share software they’re proud of. There’s no money or organization to fine. It doesn’t have a any sort of plan on how to actually enforce this. Clearly their idea of an OS stops at Windows and MacOS. I’m sure they don’t even realize there are hundreds of linux varients out there.
This is a Huge Invasion of Privacy Link to heading
Like I said, the law hasn’t specified how a user’s age will be verified. If it’s just a text field where you enter your age or check that you’re over 18, then this law is pointless and a total waste of time. Everyone will just click 18 and move on. This will prove nothing and protect no one. This is just an exercise of law makers patting themselves on the back and saying they protected children.
However, there has been talk about having to scan in a government to prove your age. Discord recently tried implementing age verification that way and leaked a ton of people’s info. If every device you have requires your id uploaded, that just creates a huge attack service especially if you use smart light bulbs. Those things have exploited vulnerabilies all the time and are often routed out of the country. If the data is intercepted, it could lead to massive waves of identity theft.
If a government id is required this could set a precedent where you will essentially have to take your devices to the DMV to register them. This will also just build in government surveillance into your home. Next the laws could require the government has some sort of backdoor into your computer.
This Absolutely Will Not Protect Children Link to heading
I think best case scenario, the age verification is so easily circumvented that it is totally ineffective and no one’s real age is collected. Worst case, if it does effectively gather everyone’s age, this will endanger more children than it protects. This law is requiring that your computer broadcasts your age to the internet. In other words it’s putting a target children’s backs for predators. I’m sure predators will find a way to abuse this and twist it to hunt for their preferred victims.
There are monsters out there. We do need to protect our children from them. We shouldn’t be a designing another tool to help them.
What’s Next? Link to heading
Honestly I don’t know. Like I keep saying, there’s no plan on how to implement or enforce this age verification so there’s no telling how this will actually play out. Some distros, MidnightBSD, have just preemptively banned users in California to just avoid this all together. I’ve heard rumors that once legislators actually learned how linux is distributed that they may include a loophole for opensource software. If that does happen, I think it will be the final nail in Window’s coffin but I’m sure Microsoft would seek legal action to make it either they all have to follow it or none of them do.
The real responsibility is on the parents and I do sympathize for them. The world and technology is becoming more and more complicated. I’m a tech professional and I can’t even keep up with everything. I’m not a parent yet but I think about these things a lot for once I do have kids. Limits do have to be put in place but I don’t trust the government to do it well at all.