Calif. Bill on Age-Verification Signals Trimmed Due to Technical and Privacy Concerns
California Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D) said her bill to require transmission of age-verification signals (AB-1043) “still is a very strong bill” after she accepted various proposed changes. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Chair Thomas Umberg (D) foreshadowed more adjustments could come in the weeks ahead.
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AB-1043 would require manufacturers to develop a way to have device owners enter the user’s birthdate or age, so that a digital signal about the user’s age bracket could be sent to app developers through an application programming interface (see 2504010001). The Assembly unanimously passed that measure last month (see 2506030029).
After talks with Umberg, committee staff and many stakeholders, Wicks agreed to remove the bill’s parental consent requirement and carve out websites, she said. Another change would adjust the process for age signals to be sent and requested under the bill, she added. “I've accepted the committee amendments due to the technical … and privacy concerns that we really just couldn't address this year.”
Umberg said there’s "a way to go before now and August,” when legislators must make a final decision on whether to pass AB-1043. "We're going to continue to meet with folks to make sure that we create something that's technologically feasible."
While still opposed, Chamber of Progress thinks the legislation is in a "significantly better place than when it started,” Samantha Corbin, the industry group’s lobbyist, told the committee. “We appreciate the removal of language that would have allowed parental consent to override access to important content. That change means that youth in unsupportive or restricted households, especially those seeking information about gender identity or reproductive health, will not be further limited online.”
Oakland Privacy dropped its opposition due to the amendments, testified Tracy Rosenberg, representing the local advocacy group.
Sen. Suzette Martinez Vallardares (R) raised privacy concerns about protecting kids by giving companies more data about them. Wicks agreed it’s a "balancing act of giving enough information ... without giving out too much."
The committee didn’t vote on AB-1043 by our deadline Tuesday.