Colorado SB26 051 Age Verification Law and New Device Procedures
The state of Colorado will implement a new law through SB26 051 which will change your procedure for setting up new smartphone and computer devices. The bill introduces a system which requires online platforms to implement an age verification process that privacy advocates consider to be a significant threat.
The bill assigns age verification duties to operating system providers which include companies like Apple and Google and Microsoft instead of requiring individual websites to perform this task. The requirements include the following obligations
- Your operating system must create an age verification interface which requires users to enter their birth date or age during the initial account creation process.
- The OS will create a digital signal that represents your age bracket through its Age Signal feature.
- App developers must obtain the age signal from users at the moment they begin using their app after download.
- An app must use the age signal from its primary source which serves as its legal proof of your age unless the app produces "clear and convincing" evidence to the contrary.
The bill states that it requires only "minimum amount of information" yet the requirement generates a significant privacy concern. The following factors demonstrate how this situation harmful your personal information
You must give your birth date to the OS provider because you now have to share it with them at the hardware level instead of keeping it private. The system establishes a permanent link between your age verification and your particular device and user account. The bill establishes a real time API mechanism which allows installed apps to fetch age information through a central system because every app needs to access this age verification system. The systems which request and save age brackets create an easy way for third parties to identify users and break their anonymity. Users must provide their age information to the system because this requirement starts during the operating system configuration process.
The Colorado Attorney General can take legal action against any company which violates these regulations. The penalties are steep to ensure big tech complies
- Negligent Violations Up to $2,500 per affected minor.
- Intentional Violations Up to $7,500 per affected minor.
By turning devices into mandatory age checkers, the bill would require storing a user’s birth date at the hardware or system level. That erodes digital anonymity and creates a new security vulnerability. A birth date is a core identity marker used in financial and government systems embedding it into every device makes it a valuable target.
Worse, once this identity verification infrastructure exists, it can expand beyond age checks. What starts as child protection could normalize device level surveillance, permanently shifting control away from users and toward regulators and manufacturers.
