After Apple introduced mandatory age verification for all UK iPhone users. The drive to integrate age verification into all devices and everything related to the Internet, has not abated. For example the state of California just passed a law, (AB 1043) that requires operating systems to collect age information to indicate whether a user is a minor or an adult.
While this has led to a lot of hand wringing on the internet. In particular from the Linux community, who historically value their internet anonymity. The big tech corporations like Apple, Microsoft and Google, have been suspiciously quiet.
Which makes me wonder if they secretly like the idea of a future where everyone will have to use a corporate account, in order to either access their computer or use the Internet. This is because AB 1043, will require that operating system providers:
“provide an accessible interface that allows an account holder to indicate the birth date, age or both of the user of that device from the purpose of providing a signal regarding the users age bracket to applications available in a covered application store”.
So not only does this legislation go against the fundamental principles of Linux. The Linux community has become concerned that by not complying, or simply being unable to comply with age verification. The community would be open to legal action and heavy fines.
Something that because Linux is based around open communities, with projects maintained by volunteers. And Linux distributions that by design are not part of a centralised platform. Could become a major issue that destroys future Linux development.
Is AB 1043 poorly written?
While I’m not a lawyer, reading AB 1043 does appear overtly vague. So I suspect this piece of legislation is really a knee jerk reaction intended to stop children from buying VPN clients to circumvent age verification. However, as the legislation also states that operating system providers, must create a user interface for age verification purposes, or face fines of up to $7,500 for each child affected.
Does this mean that anything that has an operating system, will need to implement age verification in order for it to work? Which could be a problem if AB 1043 should see further adoption from other states or countries. As this would mean that every time you wanted to open your smart fridge, or watch your TV, you would have to verify your age first?
The EU introduces an age verification app.
The European Union has just announced that as part of their Digital Services Act. They have created an Age verification app to keep children safe online. Which when setup using a passport or ID card, will allow you to prove you are an adult when you’re online.
The only problem was that within days of President von der Leyen making the announcement. According to an Independent news article, a video was released that exposed how the prototype application could be bypassed within two minutes.
So because here in the UK and within the European Union. We have protections to our Human Rights., including a clause to the right to a private life. I’m wondering at what point we will start to see challenges to Age Verification laws. Particularly as these laws seem to be removing anonymity from the internet. Which surely is an encroachment on our privacy.
Sony implement age verification on the PlayStation platform.
What’s interesting is that in order for Sony PlayStation to be compliant with new UK age verification rules. Sony came up with a reasonable compromise. So they sent emails to all UK PlayStation Network users. Informing them that as of June 2026, Gamers will need to verify their age in order to continue to use services such as messaging and voice chat.
However as online safety rules centre around protecting children from social media. If users choose not to authenticate their age, rather than locking them out of the Playstation network. Instead unauthorised users will still be able to access most PlayStation services; like games, trophies, and the Store. They just wont be able to use voice chat, broadcast gameplay, or use messaging services.
“Age limits on social media are a dead end”
While it’s tempting to just report when age verification encroaches on the internet. It’s important to actually present alternative solutions to what has been implemented so far. So with this in mind, it’s well worth reading an article posted by the University of Oslo, from Lisbet Jaere, in the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas.
In the article it points out that there are three problems with introducing age verification for social media. Firstly if you just remove children and young people from social media, without giving them a new safe place to gather. Being no longer able to participate in any public debate, or even express themselves. Ultimately you damage “democracy-building” and young people’s basic rights.
This leads to the next issue, where if children and young people suddenly find that they have no places to go on the internet. They will find alternative places, and tech companies will develop new services that don’t fall under the current category of social media legislation.
Then you have the issue which worries me the most. Which is that age verification creates privacy problems. So we end up with a situation where politicians think that in order to curtail the power of a handful of large foreign technology companies. It would be best to make everyone hand over even more personal information, but this time to an unknown shadowy third party foreign company.
What could possibly go wrong!
So whats the articles suggested solution?
Put simply regulation. Which is something that Cory Doctorow also advocates in his book, Enshitification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About it. However, in Lisbet Jaere’s article, the required regulation is more succinctly defined into five points:
1. Regulate mechanisms of influence
Regulation should target concrete mechanisms that affect our attention – such as algorithms, microtargeting using personal data, and manipulative design features – regardless of platform.
2. Require transparency
Technology companies must be open about their design goals, attention architecture, and algorithmic systems, and make these visible and open to scrutiny.
3. Better enforcement of existing rules
There is already legislation that could be used to regulate the companies, but it is not being applied.
Use existing competition and digital regulation to reduce concentration of power, data collection and abuse.
4. Ensure interoperability
Make it possible to communicate and transfer data between platforms without losing social connections.
5. Build public digital alternatives
Invest in non-commercial platforms and open systems that promote democracy, learning and autonomy.
Obviously, it would be a very brave politician who implements these points. As it places responsibility firmly with the tech industry. Who have money, lawyers and lobbyists that would do everything in their power to prevent this sort of regulation from happening.
It would also require that governments inform and educate parents. Not just on the dangers of the internet, but how they should protect their children from it. Which in the current political atmosphere could well create a new culture war. So for now, I guess we can continue to look forward to a Orwellian future.
Content for this month.
For the first video of the month, we will be releasing a video that looks at how you disable the start screen in Microsoft PowerPoint. While we’re not sure we will be making any more PowerPoint videos. This one was created about six months ago, to test the process for making videos about Microsoft Office. So if it performs well on YouTube we might reconsider and make more.
Then for the “Whats in my tech toolkit” series, we will be taking a look at the FVFM Giganet Mini LAN cable tester. Which while we don’t often need to use it, has been a very useful tool when troubleshooting a network fault or having to crimp new network cables for our home network.
If you are using Excel in order to process data. One of the first functions you learn is Transpose, as it allows you to quickly change the orientation of data from being in either columns or rows. So in this month’s Excel video we will be showing you the three different Transpose options you can use.
Finally at the end of the month. As I recently needed to make a Microsoft Windows recovery disk. I thought it might be useful to document the process. So while there are numerous ways to make a recovery disk, we’re going to take a look at using an application called Rufus.
For those that have not seen Rufus before. It is a small program that will allow you to build a self booting instance of the Windows installer. However it also allows us to make a custom Windows setup file. So we can do things like disable Bitlocker, or make a local user account which will speed up the initial install of Windows.
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