California passes bill that requires online 'guardrails' to protect children
A children's online safety bill has been passed in California, which, if it becomes law, would see App Store apps obligated to include safety features for younger users.
As the Australian government demands details about child safety, and as Apple's proposed safeguards look to become inevitable, California has been debating a new bill.
According to the New York Times, Californian lawmakers have passed the first statute in the US to install so-called "guardrails" for users under 18. The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act was passed by 33 votes to 0.
"The digital ecosystem is not safe by default for children," said Democrat Buffy Wicks, co-sponsor with Republican Jordan Cunningham. "We think the Kids' Code, as we call it, would make tech safer for children by essentially requiring these companies to better protect them."
Unlike the previous Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, the new bill is not just directed at services intended for children. Instead, it covers sites and apps that are "likely to be accessed" by people under the age of 18.
"Children should be afforded protections not only by online products and services specifically directed at them," says the statute, "but by all online products and services they are likely to access."
The new bill has already been approved by the State Assembly. It must now be approved by Governor Gavin Newsom and if it is, it will become effective in 2024.
Read on AppleInsider
As the Australian government demands details about child safety, and as Apple's proposed safeguards look to become inevitable, California has been debating a new bill.
According to the New York Times, Californian lawmakers have passed the first statute in the US to install so-called "guardrails" for users under 18. The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act was passed by 33 votes to 0.
"The digital ecosystem is not safe by default for children," said Democrat Buffy Wicks, co-sponsor with Republican Jordan Cunningham. "We think the Kids' Code, as we call it, would make tech safer for children by essentially requiring these companies to better protect them."
Unlike the previous Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, the new bill is not just directed at services intended for children. Instead, it covers sites and apps that are "likely to be accessed" by people under the age of 18.
"Children should be afforded protections not only by online products and services specifically directed at them," says the statute, "but by all online products and services they are likely to access."
The new bill has already been approved by the State Assembly. It must now be approved by Governor Gavin Newsom and if it is, it will become effective in 2024.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
i reckon eventually there will have to be a reckoning with the constant extension and intrusion of the nanny state in our lives. And it will be ugly.
[insert seeming good reason here] for {insert power grabbing, freedom killing, totalitarian regime benefit here]
People should definitely not roll over for this. The California governor is making dictator decisions lately (no voter input whatsoever. Just decrees) and he wants to run for president.
Protecting children is good. Perhaps what we need to do is honor parents in our culture, not having the FBI treat them like terrorists when they want to protect their children from child endangering philosophies and materials in schools. Give parents MORE power, without taking away their freedoms in the process.
Apple has parental controls. Perhaps they need to periodically promote and advertise and tutor.
In most cases, I would say the "incredible reasons" are usually incredibly bad reasons and "great intentions" are not necessarily good or positive intentions (except for empowering those who support the law).
That aside, in the past I was involved in assisting a PTA group that held internet and device safety training courses for parents. There are a LOT of confused and clueless parents out there. Many of the parents involved in those sessions spent little time on the internet and were unaware of the type of information their kids could find on a completely unsecured device. We didn't give them a doom and gloom worst case scenario, but practical tips for how to talk to their kids about device usage, social media, but also how to find a device's browsing history and where parental controls can be applied.
Just by commenting on this article, everyone here is more technologically aware, by a significant margin, than the majority of school aged kids' parents are. We know about the risks and are aware of how to mitigate them. Kids don't need to be completely locked down, but they are kids and biologically aren't yet equipped to make mature decisions. Parents need to provide guidance and enforce some rules from time to time.
This type of legislation is designed for the majority of parents that do not regularly comment on tech forums, and at most have a Facebook account. I haven't read the legislation, but rules that force websites, apps, and devices to respect and augment the experience for younger age groups would only be a boon overall for society.