So the "age verification" law that everyone is freaking out over just says an OS must offer an interface for specifying the age of a user? And offer a way for applications to check it?
https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1043/id/3269704
No third party verification of any kind? What even is the problem? THIS IS GOOD.
This is almost exactly how I thought it should be:
1. Adult owner of computer specifies that user account "Timmy" is for a person born in 2016.
2. The OS offers applications a means of asking whether the current user is age X or older.
3. Websites meant for age X and over must send some signal to specify this, such as with an HTTP response header.
4. The web client application (e.g. Firefox) must react to this signal from websites and perform the age check using the OS mechanism mentioned in step 2.
When Timmy goes to adultsite.com, Firefox receives the header "User-Age-Check: 18" and asks the OS if Timmy is 18 or older. The OS says no, so Firefox stops loading the site and shows an error.
The law basically specifies points 1 and 2, just going into unnecessary detail about "age bracket" stuff. (Realistically, an OS would just offer a generic "age ≥ X" check so it can support any age brackets of any jurisdiction.)
This is a step in the right direction.
Taylan (GNU+Feminism Cat)
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2026-03-28 04:39:11 UTC
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"content": "So the \"age verification\" law that everyone is freaking out over just says an OS must offer an interface for specifying the age of a user? And offer a way for applications to check it?\n\nhttps://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1043/id/3269704\n\nNo third party verification of any kind? What even is the problem? THIS IS GOOD.\n\nThis is almost exactly how I thought it should be:\n\n1. Adult owner of computer specifies that user account \"Timmy\" is for a person born in 2016.\n\n2. The OS offers applications a means of asking whether the current user is age X or older.\n\n3. Websites meant for age X and over must send some signal to specify this, such as with an HTTP response header. \n\n4. The web client application (e.g. Firefox) must react to this signal from websites and perform the age check using the OS mechanism mentioned in step 2.\n\nWhen Timmy goes to adultsite.com, Firefox receives the header \"User-Age-Check: 18\" and asks the OS if Timmy is 18 or older. The OS says no, so Firefox stops loading the site and shows an error.\n\nThe law basically specifies points 1 and 2, just going into unnecessary detail about \"age bracket\" stuff. (Realistically, an OS would just offer a generic \"age ≥ X\" check so it can support any age brackets of any jurisdiction.)\n\nThis is a step in the right direction.",
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