If passed, the bill would apply across the U.S., unlike the state-level laws already around.

From the press release [my emphasis]:

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.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/25834609

The U.S. has been quietly building up a set of state-level laws that push operating system providers into the age verification plague.

California’s AB 1043, signed in October 2025, requires OS providers to collect age data at account setup and pipe it to apps through a real-time API. It kicks in on January 1, 2027.

Colorado is working on something nearly identical. SB26-051 (which we covered when it was still a proposal) passed the state Senate 28-7 on March 3, 2026, and is now waiting on a House vote to become law there too.

However, these are just state-level laws. A new federal bill, H.R.8250, introduced on April 13, 2026, by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, with Rep. Elise M. Stefanik signing on as cosponsor, has us intrigued.

  • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    93·
    23 days ago

    All of these sorts of laws are designed to do two things:

    1. Destroy privacy

    2. Destroy Free Software (because inevitable end result will be enforcement via DRM, obviously)

    That’s why it’s vitally important to stand united against them, and bootlicking class traitors like Lennart Poettering need to be bitch-slapped into either standing with us or fucking off out of Linux development entirely.

    • redsand@infosec.pubEnglish
      3·
      22 days ago

      Ban them. They don’t need push access. Their contributions are no longer welcome in any form on any project.

          • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            21 days ago

            There’s literally no way they van enforce laws on an open source project

            I’m guessing you weren’t running a modded Minecraft server when CraftBukkit was hit with a DMCA ban and disappeared from GitHub overnight. (The DMCA is a shit law, passed by shit-heads to be shitty.)

            Open Source is huge, but not invincible. We still have to act to protect it.

            • quick_snail@feddit.nlEnglish
              1·
              21 days ago

              So they moved to gitlab of codeberg or self hosted gitea?

              What’s your point? Git is decentralized. Getting banned from GitHub takes about 1 day to fix, at most.

              • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
                2·
                21 days ago

                That’s not how it played out. Contributors were alarmed, distribution modes had to be rebuilt. Some of those options fight exist yet.

                Contributors were afraid to continue to contribute.

                The ecosystem is more resilient today because of crap like that.

                But it’s vain to believe that public copies won’t go away. People have to feel safe to share.

  • FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish
    35·
    23 days ago

    If it’s actually “age verification” as quoted, not “age recording” then it’s significantly worse than the state-level bills.

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      22 days ago

      The Epstein class wants to know which users are minors.

      This is exactly what this is really about.

      For those of us with any Maga connections left, we need to raise this alarm to them, too.

      Maga types are not paying enough attention to catch on yet, but there’s a good chance it’ll be one of them who is in the best position to do something relevant, when there’s opportunities…

      It’s still a numbers thing. There’s still a lot more victims than actual proper full boot lickers, if we can wake them up.

  • cdf12345@lemmy.zipEnglish
    13·
    22 days ago

    So this is going to have to include basically everything , cars, airplanes, teledildonics .

    How is this ever going to be enforceable?

    • billwashere@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      23 days ago

      There is so much shit they haven’t thought of trying to ram this through it isn’t funny. Not a one of these dumb motherfuckers has any clue how tech works or what kind of headaches this is going to bring to the tech industry. It’s all feel good politics meant to look good but not actually do any good whatsoever, so theater like most of it already (see TSA). There will be so many loopholes in ways to get around it, it will be less than useless.

    • tinfoilhat@lemmy.mlEnglish
      51·
      22 days ago

      That was to make you buy a new computer when you had a perfectly working one.

  • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    5·
    23 days ago

    Woah, did the media learn something from the California bill? That was only reported very much on after it had already passed. Now this is getting significant coverage when nothing except introduction has happened yet (and let us hope it stays that way).