California's age verification law is proving controversial — here's what you need to know, and why some Linux distros are in the firing line

• California's Digital Age Assurance Act comes into effect on January 1, 2027
• The legislation means any OS will need to collect age data at setup
• This will be a self-reported age declaration with no verification, but it could prove problematic in some ways — particularly for some Linux distros

California has new legislation, which means that any provider of an operating system must ascertain the age of the user setting up the OS.

As Tom's Hardware reports, this is California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), and it comes into effect on January 1, 2027.

As of next year, any operating system will need to not only collect age data at setup, but also transmit that data to developers of any apps running on the OS via a real-time API.

That's to facilitate software developers being able to verify any age requirements when their apps are downloaded or run. Under the legislation, OS users will be categorized into four age brackets: 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 provided age. If the content of the app isn't age-appropriate, the onus is on the developer to ensure the person cannot use the software, or the dev is liable and will be penalized to the tune of up to $2,500 per affected child (for negligent violations — intentional violations run up to a fine of $7,500 in each instance).

However, it's a simple self-reported age check; there's no photo ID verification or similar process (as is the case in other US states with this kind of regulation).

As Tom's Hardware points out, there's 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 that's the giants like Android and iOS, Windows 11, or smaller desktop fry like macOS and Linux. The latter is a wide net, of course, and includes the likes of handhelds 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.

However, that obvious flaw aside, there are a lot of people who are relieved to see that this won't be based on demanding a photo ID of some kind for proof of who you are. As we've seen with the Discord controversy of late, there are trust (and privacy) issues around supplying sensitive data like IDs to third parties (especially if those firms then end up suffering a data breach).

Another issue that's causing controversy here, though, is that some believe this is an initial implementation designed to get the door open in order to bring through stricter legislation (that does use ID verification) at a later date.

You can see why there's a fair bit of skepticism floating around, one way or another, about AB 1043, and there's another problem for some operating system developers, too. If you look at the more niche Linux distros, they're 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 those cases, as Tom's Hardware notes, their approach is likely to be labelling the OS as not intended for use in California.

There are further nuances around what an 'account' is with an operating system, too. What about OS installations with multiple user accounts, with various family members sharing a PC – how exactly will that work under the new regulations? There are already folks pushing for clarity and amendments on that particular issue.

It's a rather muddy law, then, in more than a few respects, yet there's no shortage of folks welcoming it as a better outcome for California than what could have been (meaning full ID checks).

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