California's Age Verification Bill Passes with Linux Exemption Intact
California's age-verification bill has passed in its legislature — but with its open-source carve-out intact, reports the blog Linuxiac: Back in May, we reported that California lawmakers amended Assembly Bill 1856 to carve open-source operating systems out of the state's upcoming age verification requirements. Three months later, that exemption survived the legislative process intact, and the…
California's age-verification bill has passed through the legislature, retaining its exemption for open-source operating systems, according to a report by Linuxiac. Initially proposed in May, Assembly Bill 1856 received approval from both chambers of the California Legislature, and is now headed to Engrossing and Enrolling before being presented to Governor Gavin Newsom.
The bill complements the Digital Age Assurance Act, set to become effective on January 1, 2027. When an operating system used in a device includes an account setup feature, its provider must request and accept a birth date, age, or both, from the primary user during account setup. The operating system must be capable of providing a digital age signal to application stores and developers via a consistent real-time API.
Instead of displaying a specific birth date, the signal categorizes the user into one of four age groups: under 13, 13-15, 16-17, or 18 and older. Covered application stores are obligated to request the signal from the operating system and make it available to developers.
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