- California’s Digital Age Assurance Act goes into effect on January 1, 2027
- The legislation means that every operating system must collect age data at setup
- This will be a self-reported age declaration without verification, but it can prove problematic in some ways – especially for some Linux distros
California has new legislation which means that every provider of an operating system must ascertain the age of the user who installs the OS.
As Tom’s Hardware reports, this is California’s Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), and it goes into effect on January 1, 2027.
Starting next year, every operating system must not only collect age data at setup, but also transmit that data to developers of all apps running on the OS via a real-time API.
This is to make it easier for software developers to verify any age requirements when their apps are downloaded or run. Under the legislation, OS users will be categorized into four age groups: under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17 and 18 or older.
The idea is that developers are then responsible for applying verification based on the specified age. If the content of the app is not age appropriate, it is the responsibility of the developer to ensure that the person cannot use the software, or the developer is liable and will be fined up to $2,500 per user. affected child (for negligent violations – willful violations incur a fine of $7,500 in each case).
However, it is a simple self-reported age check; there is no photo ID verification or similar process (as is the case in other US states with this type of regulation).
As Tom’s Hardware points out, there is a broad definition of an operating system provider, which is any organization that “develops, licenses, or controls the operating system software on a computer, mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device.”
Any OS platform — be it mobile or desktop — is subject to AB 1043, whether it’s behemoths like Android and iOS, Windows 11, or smaller desktop fry like macOS and Linux. The latter is of course a wide net and includes handheld computers running SteamOS.
Analysis: complications around trust
Of course, a trust-based age verification system is problematic because a child can simply lie about their age to get around it and no one will be the wiser.
But aside from the obvious flaw, many people are relieved to see that this won’t be based on requiring a photo ID of some kind to prove who you are. As we’ve seen with the Discord controversy recently, there are trust (and privacy) issues around providing sensitive data like IDs to third parties (especially if those companies then end up suffering a data breach).
Another issue causing controversy here, however, is that some believe this is an initial implementation designed to open the door to passing stricter legislation (that uses ID verification) at a later date.
You can see why there’s a lot of skepticism floating around, one way or another, about AB 1043, and there’s also another problem for some operating system developers. If you look at the more niche Linux distros, they are run by small teams of enthusiasts who simply don’t have the resources to tackle implementing the necessary systems and real-time API – it’s just not going to happen. In these cases, as Tom’s Hardware notes, their approach will likely be to label the operating system as not intended for use in California.
There is also more nuance to what an ‘account’ is with an operating system. What about multi-user OS installations where different family members share a PC – how exactly will that work under the new rules? There are already people pushing for clarity and amendments on that specific issue.
So it’s a pretty muddy law in more than a few respects, yet there’s no shortage of people who welcome it as a better outcome for California than what could have been (that is, full ID checks).
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