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
    2·
    3 months 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
      1·
      3 months ago

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

    • Pommes_für_dein_Balg@feddit.orgEnglish
      01·
      3 months ago

      I’m sure if we just keep sending more death threats and pizza deliveries to the homes of volunteer FOSS maintainers, the Trump admin will reconsider this law.

      • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        WTF are you talking about? First of all, nobody said anything about death threats or pizza deliveries, and second, Poettering is not a “volunteer.” He’s spent his career getting paid by Red Hat and then Microsoft to make Linux more corporate-friendly.

        • Pommes_für_dein_Balg@feddit.orgEnglish
          01·
          3 months ago

          He isn’t employed by Red Hat nor Microsoft anymore, and wasn’t when this whole age field controversy started.
          He’s founder and chief engineer of Amutable.

          And you did write “bootlicking class traitors like Lennart Poettering need to be bitch-slapped”.
          This is exactly the rhetoric and thinking which lead to him and other maintainers receiving death threats and pizza deliveries at their home address. Maybe you’re familiar with the term “Stochastic Terrorism”.

      • redsand@infosec.pubEnglish
        01·
        3 months ago

        I would love to hear Danny and this cunt are getting death threats and pizza. Link?

  • cdf12345@lemmy.zipEnglish
    2·
    3 months 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
      1·
      3 months 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.

  • FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

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

    • tinfoilhat@lemmy.ml
      English
      01·
      3 months ago

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

      • Solrac@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        3 months ago

        Basically, Isreali guy goes on US national television news, and straight up says “It’s time to limit the first amendment” followed by being able to verify who’s saying what and what kind of person they are.