I bet this will be as easy to circumvent as changing the user agent of your browser and most developers outside of the US wont even bother to introduce age verification for a small fraction of their users.
Age verification laws are cropping up in far more jurisdictions than California (which is already quite large both in population and economically).
Anti-circumvention laws already exist. If OSes and browsers do start reporting ages, you can expect Apple, Google, and Microsoft to use the DMCA to (at least) shift liability (potentially criminal liability) onto users that adjust their browser to report an inaccurate age.
If this proposed law the “end of the world”? No. But, it is yet another contribution to both tech and government panopticons and should be resisted, even WITH a POSS carve-out.
As several people I follow try to remind me: “Users of non-FOSS software deserve privacy and safety, too.”
I bet this will be as easy to circumvent as changing the user agent of your browser and most developers outside of the US wont even bother to introduce age verification for a small fraction of their users.
Age verification laws are cropping up in far more jurisdictions than California (which is already quite large both in population and economically).
Anti-circumvention laws already exist. If OSes and browsers do start reporting ages, you can expect Apple, Google, and Microsoft to use the DMCA to (at least) shift liability (potentially criminal liability) onto users that adjust their browser to report an inaccurate age.
If this proposed law the “end of the world”? No. But, it is yet another contribution to both tech and government panopticons and should be resisted, even WITH a POSS carve-out.
As several people I follow try to remind me: “Users of non-FOSS software deserve privacy and safety, too.”