Criminals Don't Obey Laws, California Does Not Enhance Online Safety
Kids not protected and it's all optics
It has been a while since we last mentioned so-called 'age-verification' laws, with scare quotes necessary because it's not really about age, it's about surveilling all users of all computers. There will be workarounds, as usual. The most controversial law/bill has passed without resistance in the largest economy (state) in the US: "California's legislature has passed Assembly Bill 1856, exempting open-source operating systems from the State's Digital Age Assurance Act months before the law is due to take effect on January 1, 2027."
The gaslighting worked, they kept some people quiet by granting alleged exemptions, and now over 90% of computer users will be subjected to mandatory steps that verify who they are. It's about identity, not age.
This will not prevent Tor users from going online, unidentified, and do lots of really nasty things. █
Image source: Waves On California Coast