One step forward, two steps back on CA age bill (EFF Deeplinks Blog)

Date:
Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:53:00 +0000

Description:
The EFF has a blog
post looking at a new bill in California that would exempt
open-source operating systems from the Digital Age Assurance Act
passed last year, but has problems of its own: While the open source exemption, if passed, would improve the law, the
remaining amendments proposed by AB 1856 would require all web
browsers and websites to request and collect users' ages. This is an
expansion of last year's AB 1043's age-bracketing system that
compounds its constitutional harms to users' speech, privacy, and
security. [...] EFF understands this amendment to exempt open-source
operating systems from the requirement to collect and transmit users' age-bracket data. That is a definite win for open-source
developers. The bill is narrower now than it was before, and lawmakers
clearly responded to concerns raised by EFF and the broader
open-source community. Some important questions still remainfor example, it
is unclear
how the law would apply when an open-source operating system is
incorporated into a commercial product or service. And, given the
structure of where the exemption is placed under the "operating system provider" definition, lawmakers could stand to clarify that the
exemption applies to open-source operating systems and
applications. LWN covered California's age-attestation law in March.

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Link to news story:
https://lwn.net/Articles/1076377/


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