Hello Senator ___,
I am writing about House Bill 8250, requiring age verification in order to use any operating system. This bill, along with similar state bills (CA AB1043, NY S8102A, CO SB26-051) undermine core American principles:
First Amendment: According to Supreme Court Case Bernstein v. US Department of Justice, Judge Patel ruled that source code is classified as speech for the purposes of the first amendment. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the first amendment protects against compelled speech. Thus, the government forcing people to run certain code against their will is compelled speech, and violates the First Amendment.
First Amendment: Having your computer usage linked to your ID can be used to restrict your ability to freely express yourself.
Fourth Amendment: requiring identification to use any device infringes on a person’s right to privacy, especially within their own home.
Ninth and Tenth Amendment: The constitution also protects other intrinsic rights not explicitly mentioned, such as the right to privacy
California Constitution, Section 1.1: This bill directly violates the Californian Constitution by infringing on the personal privacy of Californians.
Other reasons why this is bad:
Requiring verification to use a device means anybody without an ID will not be able to use a computer, phone, or even car. This is especially damaging for undocumented immigrants, as well as other marginalized communities.
Many Americans do not have one of the forms of government-issued photo identification. These people are disproportionately low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and more frequently cannot afford or cannot obtain the underlying documents that are a prerequisite to obtaining government-issued photo ID card.
This will restrict their access to using electronic devices, as well as services depending on such devices, such as healthcare, education, or even crucial information.
This is also a solution in search of a problem. If the reason for Age Verification is to protect minors, there already exist many tools for parents to manage their children, such as Google Safe Search, Microslop family and others. There is absolutely no need to also require an ID.
Finally, if everyone has to submit their ID to use their devices, and there is a centralized database of all the IDs, what is stopping ICE from looking up, and deporting undocumented immigrants by their id. Or one day Trump decides to just cut off internet access for all trans people. I urge you to strike down this horrendous attempt by this fascist government at surveillance and censorship, and vote against mandatory age verification.