California law to require operating systems to check your age

The time of age assurance is upon us, and not just for social media - for operating systems too and that includes Linux as well of course.

News currently doing the rounds is California law AB-1043 "Age verification signals: software applications and online services" that comes into effect January 1, 2027 that will require operating systems and app stores to get your age and be able to somehow signal that age to applications when they request it.

From the bill:

This bill, beginning January 1, 2027, would require, among other things related to age verification with respect to software applications, an operating system provider, as defined, to provide an accessible interface at account setup that requires an account holder, as defined, to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user’s age bracket to applications available in a covered application store and to provide a developer, as defined, who has requested a signal with respect to a particular user with a digital signal via a reasonably consistent real-time application programming interface regarding whether a user is in any of several age brackets, as prescribed. The bill would require a developer to request a signal with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded and launched.

This bill would prohibit an operating system provider or a covered application store from using data collected from a third party in an anticompetitive manner, as specified.

This bill would punish noncompliance with a civil penalty to be enforced by the Attorney General, as prescribed.

This bill would declare its provisions to be severable.

Reading through the bill details, it doesn't seem to demand any ID scanning or anything like that. The text makes it pretty clear they want "nonpersonally identifiable data" taken from your birth date to have you placed into age brackets like under 13, under 16 or at least 18.

This is very US / California specific of course but still applies worldwide to any operating system that has downloads available in California, and continues the trend we've seen elsewhere against social media platforms from various countries (like the unpopular changes with Discord). All in the name of protecting children. This in a way seems a lot more invasive though, considering this age checking is now making its way into your PC directly. It starts with asking for your birth date, but how long before they want more - and for other places to create similar laws? It's a slippery slope.

What we may end up seeing is the likes of GNOME, KDE Plasma and other deskop environments just add in a simple date picker for your age on account creation, or some kind of statement on their downloads page on how it's not to be used in California perhaps.

It would be interesting to see how this type of law could go after Linux distributions if they don't have any age checking at all in place, especially since accounts already created before July 2027 will need to have something in place so you can go back and add your age.