colorado bill wants to require operating systems verify age of users

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Oh, but they don't want voter ID verification.

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Unenforceable.

From a software engineering point of view this proposal runs into a basic reality.

Operating systems do not actually know who the person using the device is. They only know the account that was used to set up the device, and that information can be typed in by anyone. A child could simply enter an adult birth date during setup or use a parent’s account and the system would report the wrong age.

Many devices also allow multiple users, shared browsers or sideloaded apps, which makes enforcement even weaker.

The open web creates another problem because normal websites would need a new browser standard to read an age signal from the operating system, which raises privacy concerns and would take years for the industry to adopt.

Even then, people could bypass the system using different browsers, Linux devices, VPNs or services outside Colorado.

Because of these limits, the system would either require real identity verification, which creates major privacy and political issues or it would rely on self-reported data that is easy to bypass.

For that reason most engineers would expect one of three outcomes: the law gets struck down in court, it passes but never works in practice or it ends up as a weak parental control style feature that does little to actually enforce age restrictions.

Today’s kids are tech savvy enough to find ways around it. They may not be able to spell “cat”, but they will figure out how to access their tech.