Not content with just adult content, WA lawmakers are already trying to force more types of services to collect personal information to verify the ages of users. They’re using the same ‘think of the children’ arguments to justify this authoritarian encroachment into the online privacy of all Washingtonians.
If they get their way, you may have to scan your ID or face to access Reddit, Discord, and all your other favorite platforms — even those not containing adult content. Even individual video games might have to require age verification if they have user generated content & notification features.
Here’s a quick summary of all the various anti-privacy bills they’re pushing:
KOCSA — HB 2112 (Washington)
ID scans for access to adult websites. Obviously, adult content being linked to personally identifiable information has predictable problems, as covered on our main page.
We got over 2,000 people registering opposition for the hearing (and even got one of the sponsors to pull out!), so thank you for taking a stand for privacy. You rock!
SB 6111 (Washington)
This bill would require age verification to be performed by any site/program that primarily revolves around social interaction features, such as social media sites, message boards, chat rooms, and video sharing.
(This particular bill does exempt e-mail, news, sports, commerce, video games, and career websites.)
The method of verification is not specified, so likely less accurate estimation methods such as face scanning would be permitted.
- Send comment to your legislators
- Participate in the Jan 29th public hearing (You can do so in-person, remotely, write in comments, or even just quickly mark yourself opposed on the public record.)
SB 5708 (Washington)
This bill would require age verification for any site/app that contains a feed of user created posts that are algorithmically recommended based on the user.
This is quite a bit broader than SB 6111, and in addition to regular social media like Facebook/Twitter, it could also encompass YouTube, user-generated content in games, etc if the algorithmically recommended content is a significant part of the product.
It was apparently requested by our Attorney General for some reason. =\
(Method of AV also not specified)
HB 1834 (Washington)
This is the companion bill to SB5708 above.
In a previous version, it had an exemption for gaming platforms to narrow the scope of the bill slightly, but this exemption was later removed.
- Send comment to your legislators
- This bill is scheduled for a public hearing on Jan 26 and you can testify, though it is for the appropriations committee so I assume they’re only interested in budgetary concerns (?).
Bonus federal bill: SCREEN (House/Senate)
SCREEN would require age verification checks on adult sites nationwide, and includes provisions requiring VPN users to verify.