The U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld Texas' law requiring age verification to access adult websites (see 2506270041) will have a ripple effect, prompting the creation of similar laws in states along with constitutional questions about how and where age verification can happen, said privacy experts in recent blog posts. Similarly, advocacy groups that disagreed with the high court's decision argued it may embolden other states to expand the definition of off-limits material, further challenging the First Amendment and ultimately letting politicians make content decisions (see 2507070037).
When the terms and conditions of a website violate the law, it doesn't matter that a person agreed to them, a plaintiff argued in a case against adult website Multi Media.
Google renewed its call for a federal court to dismiss a class-action case against it that alleges the company's education products secretly harvest mass amounts of student information and data without their or their parents’ knowledge or consent. In its motion to dismiss, Google claims the plaintiffs -- parents of minor schoolchildren -- haven't alleged invasion of privacy.
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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Children and young people should be able to enjoy the online world's opportunities while facing fewer risks from it, the European Commission said Monday as it published a prototype age-verification app and guidelines for protecting minors under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
NetChoice asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to continue to block a Mississippi age-verification law that a district court enjoined in June (see 2506180051) while the case is pending. Yet Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) noted in a July 2 court document that the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton affirms age-verification measures. Fitch has vowed to fight for the "commonsense" law (see 2506200009).
Christian state lawmakers unanimously supported an app store age-verification model bill last month, the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) said Monday.
Colorado shouldn’t use upcoming kids’ privacy regulations as a “back door” to require age verification, retailers warned the state’s law department last week. In addition to warning against requiring verification through possible rules about a company’s “willful disregard” of a user being a minor, industry groups cautioned that any regulation of system design features mustn’t violate the First Amendment.
App store age-verification laws like those in Texas will result in costly children’s privacy compliance for general audience-directed apps, ACT | The App Association said Friday.