Lawmakers are aiming for age checks at operating system level for apps

A couple of Colorado lawmakers appear to have voiced their support for age verification checks at the operating system level, which has stirred up quite a debate among netizens. Age verification checks are now a hotter topic than ever before, following Discord's announcement of teen-by-default settings, restricting users from accessing certain features without an age check.

OS-level age check bill has left netizens fuming

Spotted by PCMag, the bill SB26-051, if implemented, would require operating systems - such as macOS, Windows, Android - register the age of the person who owns the device. This data will then be fed into apps through an API, with Sen. Matt Ball and Rep. Amy Paschal stating that no other personal information would be shared with apps, with the exception of age, obviously.

Interestingly, the bill does not necessitate any proper government-issued ID checks to verify the age of the owner, which sure does leave a glaring loophole. Moreover, as plenty of people have suggested, the age of the owner of the device in no way reflects the age of the one who might be momentarily in possession of the said device.

The bill also states that if a developer is convinced that a user's age is different from the age reported, the developer can disregard the reported age. It is, however, not clear how exactly or what parameters will be used by developers to determine whether or not a user is lying about their age. Further, the bill indicates that the age data will only be shared with apps, and not websites.