Texas Requires Age Proof to Download Apps

The governor of Texas has signed a law that means app stores must verify user ages. Governor Greg Abbott had reportedly been privately urged by Apple chief Tim Cook to veto the bill.

Google, the other major company directly affected by the law, also publicly opposed the measures. It follows a similar law passing in Utah. The new law is known as the Texas App Store Accountability Act. It means app stores will need to verify the age of users and then tell app developers which of four age groups they fall into: child, young teenager, older teenagers or adult. The idea is that app developers could use this to have variable safety features with some elements of the app only available to older users.

Parental Proof Needed

App stores will also need to get parental consent before a user who is not an adult downloads any app or makes an in app-purchase. While that's in the Utah law, the Texas law goes a step further by requiring the parent or guardian to provide they have the legal authority to act on the child's behalf.

Critics of the law, including Apple and Google, say this has unfair effects on user privacy. They say parents will need to provide too much personal information when proving their identity. They also argue that the burden is too high on all users as they'll almost certainly need to provide sensitive personal data to prove age and that this isn't justifiable in cases where an app is inherently suitable for all age groups. (Source: cnn.com)

Cook Stirs Up Dissent

Some major social media companies have countered this argument by saying the approach would mean users had to provide personal information less often. The theory is that if a user has proven their age when downloading the app, then the app itself won't need to verify the user's age again, for example to confirm they are old enough to create a user account.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook even made a personal call to Abbott to ask him to veto the bill, which had been passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses of the Texas legislature. (Source: wsj.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you support the principle of the law? Should it be extended nationwide? Are Apple and Google's arguments valid?