California, Colorado Carve Out Open-Source Exemptions in Age-Check Laws Ahead of 2027, 2028 Rollouts
Updated
Updated · It's FOSS · May 26
California, Colorado Carve Out Open-Source Exemptions in Age-Check Laws Ahead of 2027, 2028 Rollouts
8 articles · Updated · It's FOSS · May 26
California’s AB 1856 cleared the Appropriations Committee 11-0 on May 14 and now awaits a full Assembly vote to exempt many open-source operating systems and apps from AB 1043.
AB 1043 had required operating-system providers to collect users’ age or birth date at account setup and pass it to apps through a real-time API starting Jan. 1, 2027.
The California fix rewrites “operating system provider” to exclude software distributed under licenses allowing copying, redistribution and modification, and narrows which apps fall under the law.
Colorado already enacted similar carve-outs in SB26-051, exempting open-source OS providers, developers, code repositories and some containerized distributions, with the law taking effect July 1, 2028.
Those changes followed direct lobbying by open-source advocates after both states’ original bills omitted exemptions, leaving Linux distributions and other community-run projects exposed.
As states exempt open-source from age laws, are they creating an unregulated digital space for minors?
Will Colorado's unique software freedom clause become a new standard for future American tech regulation?