Google pushes a bill that would make UTAH the first state in the United States to have a law obliging the application stores to verify the age of their users. The company officially asked the governor of the state of veto to the bill, adopted by the state legislature last weekAs he urges states to consider a different approach to applications safety.
In a blog From Google’s public policies, Kareem Ghanem, said UTAH law posed “real risks of confidentiality and security” and that states should not rush to adopt laws “pushed by meta” and other social media societies. Instead, Ghanethe says Google proposed an “alternative legislative framework” which would allow the developers of potentially “risky” applications to request “age signals” from App Store owners like Google.
The declaration has been the first time that Google has publicly opposed the bill, which would make Apple and Google responsible for age verification and parental authorization for children under the age of 18. A spokesperson also confirmed that the company had asked the Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, the bill. Cox has previously sign On the laws which imposed demands for age verification and parental authorization on social media societies, although the measures were revised and then blocked by a judge. A spokesperson for Cox did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Although it is not surprising that Google is opposed to the law and others like this (there are at least eight other states which envisage similar measures), it should be noted that the company proposes its own parameters for a law which would take into account the type of content available in a given application, which would be more of a burden on social media companies.
Ghanem maintains that not all applications should be subject to age verification. “This level of data sharing is not necessary – a meteorological application does not need to know if a user is a child,” he writes. “On the other hand, an application on social networks must make important decisions on the content and features adapted to age.” He also maintains that the security proposals of the APP Store should be prohibited from all personalized announcements to anyone under 18 years of age, ostensibly noting that "Other companies" should follow the example of Google on the issue.
Google obviously has a direct interest in not being responsible for verifying the age of its users, which would impose important logistical and legal risks for the company. But many other confidentiality and digital rights groups have also opposed Age verification laws.
This article originally appeared on engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-choogle-asks-governor-to-veto-tates-app–age-age-age-age-erification-bill-233733280.html?src=SSS
