Congress Wants Age Verification on Every OS. Yes, Every One.
HR 8250, the "Parents Decide Act," would require ALL operating systems to implement age verification. Not just social media apps. Not just websites. Operating systems. Windows, Linux, embedded systems, your smart refrigerator. All of it.
The bill is, by any honest read, a mess:
• Doesn't specify how age verification would actually work
• Kicks that question to the FTC, who gets 180 days to figure it out
• FTC also decides data storage rules AND how OSes must hand over collected user data
• "Operating System" is defined so broadly it captures basically everything
• Takes effect 1 year after enactment
• Enforced under the FTC Act
So Congress wrote a law that says "age verification on everything" and then said "FTC, you figure out what that means." That's not legislating. That's delegating your homework to an agency and calling it a bill.
A vague, half-baked bill would mandate age verification across every operating system in existence while outsourcing all the actual decisions to the FTC, which is either lazy lawmaking or a blank check for surveillance infrastructure.
Source
x.com