This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Read our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A fundamental principle in the American legal system is the distinction between children and adults. Children cannot sign contracts, consent to medical treatment, or enter into binding agreements without parental involvement. Yet for some reason, when, in 10 or so years, we buy my 2-year-old a phone, he will have to consent to a dozen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Under the App Store Accountability Act, app stores would verify a user\u2019s age at account creation and notify parents when a minor wants to download an app. Parents would review the request and decide whether to approve it. This framework simply invites parental oversight without banning content or restricting speech.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, a recent preliminary injunction against a similar state law in Texas (SB 2420<\/a>) threatens to derail this long-delayed effort to put parents back in control of their teens\u2019 online experience. Some commonsense exceptions embedded in the Texas law gave federal judge, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, the opportunity to stop the law from going into effect on First Amendment grounds, claiming the law discriminated based on types of content.<\/p>\n I think the court got it wrong. What the Texas law does is regulate a commercial transaction\u2013downloading software\u2013and requires parental consent for minors to complete it. We already require parental consent for tattoos, leases, and credit cards. This is the same principle applied to a new context.<\/p>\n It is also worth remembering that a preliminary injunction is not a final ruling. It is one judge\u2019s early assessment, and the Texas Attorney General has already appealed to the Fifth Circuit. The Supreme Court also upheld age-verification requirements in a separate Texas case (Free Speech Coalition Inc. et al. v. Paxton, Attorney General of Texas<\/a>)<\/em>.<\/p>\n This legal question is far from settled.<\/p>\n Critics point to this single preliminary ruling as if it should stop Congress from acting. This is frustrating because the same scrutiny is not being applied to alternative approaches. The Parents Over Platforms Act<\/a>, another bill introduced in Congress, would require verification app by app instead of centralizing it at the app store. That model has been struck down repeatedly as courts have found it constitutionally problematic and a privacy nightmare\u2014forcing families to scatter personal data across dozens of platforms. One preliminary injunction against a more sensible approach should not overshadow the sustained failure of the alternative.<\/p>\n The App Store Accountability Act consolidates verification in one place, minimizes data collection, and preserves parental authority. It reflects the same legal principles we apply everywhere else: children need protection, and parents are the ones who should provide it. Congress should pass this legislation and give American families the tools they need.<\/p>\n The post Why Courts Are Wrong About Age\u2011Verification\u2014and Why Congress Must Act<\/a> appeared first on Attorney at Law Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/attorneyatlawmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/black%400.5x.png?resize=172%2C63&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
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