The privacy nightmare hiding inside California’s new kid-safety rule

I love my home state of California. But sometimes its best intentions go awry.

It’s not surprising that California’s legislature passed the Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) last October—age verification is currently a popular focus within governments. (And the reason for Discord’s current struggles.) But its approach had multiple PCWorld staffers raising their eyebrows in response—and half of us are residents of the Golden State, so we’ve seen well-meaning legislation with unintended consequences before.