A Developer's Guide to Navigating Age Assurance Laws

Introduction

Age assurance laws are spreading worldwide, aiming to protect minors from online harms like grooming, violent content, and bullying. While well-intentioned, these laws can inadvertently burden open source developers and infrastructure services that don't pose the same risks as consumer platforms. As a developer, understanding these proposals is crucial to safeguarding the open source ecosystem's decentralized, user-controlled nature. This guide helps you assess, engage with, and prepare for age assurance requirements without stifling innovation or access for young learners.

A Developer's Guide to Navigating Age Assurance Laws — Source: github.blog

What You Need

Basic understanding of open source software development and distribution.
Awareness of current age assurance proposals in your jurisdiction or target markets.
Familiarity with terms like age verification, age estimation, and self-attestation.
Knowledge of your project's user base (especially minors) and data practices.
Willingness to engage with policymakers and the open source community.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Learn the Age Assurance Landscape

Age assurance covers a spectrum of methods: age verification (high confidence, e.g., ID checks), age estimation (inferred from behavior or facial scanning), and self-attestation (user declares age). Laws vary in which method they mandate, the age threshold (commonly 13, 16, or 18), and whether they apply to devices, app stores, or websites. Understand these differences because they determine your compliance burden. For open source projects, requirements that force centralized data collection or restrict sideloading conflict with core principles. Monitor legislative proposals in regions like the EU, US states, and Australia.

Step 2: Identify Which Laws Affect You

Not every age assurance proposal targets developers. Some focus on consumer platforms or operating system publishers. However, broad definitions of “publisher” or “service provider” can accidentally include open source maintainers. Check the scope: does the law apply to software distributed outside official app stores? Does it define “intermediary” to include infrastructure services like package registries? If your project is used by minors or could be accessed by them, you may fall under the law. Create a list of relevant bills using resources like the EFF’s tracking pages or developer-focused policy alerts.

Step 3: Assess Impact on Your Open Source Project

Examine your project’s architecture. Does it rely on centralized authentication? If the law requires operating systems to collect and share age signals, your project might need to integrate such signals. For decentralized projects, this could be infeasible. Also, if the law restricts “publishers” from allowing user installation without age checks, your ability to distribute binaries via your website or GitHub releases may be hindered. Document these risks and consider how they affect your community – especially young contributors who learn to code via open source.

Step 4: Evaluate Privacy and Security Trade-offs

Age assurance methods often require collecting more user data, which increases privacy risks and attack surfaces. For instance, facial age estimation might be accurate but raises biometric privacy concerns. Self-attestation is less intrusive but easily bypassed. Strong encryption and minimal data collection are hallmarks of many open source projects. Ensure any age assurance approach you adopt doesn’t undermine these values. If the law mandates a method you find problematic, consider challenging it via advocacy or technical alternatives.

Step 5: Engage with Policymakers and the Community

Developers have a critical voice in shaping these laws. Submit comments on proposed regulations, join industry coalitions, and share your technical insights. Explain how a one-size-fits-all requirement could harm open source without meaningfully protecting minors. Collaborate with organizations like the Open Source Initiative or the Linux Foundation to amplify your message. Also, educate your users about the potential changes – they can help advocate.

Step 6: Prepare Implementation Options

While waiting for final laws, explore voluntary measures that balance safety and openness. For example, you could offer a simple age gate for certain features (like chat) without requiring full identity verification. Alternatively, design your software to accept age signals from the operating system if that becomes standard – but do so in a privacy-preserving way (e.g., via secure enclaves). Document your approach so the community can replicate it. Remember, the goal is to protect minors without restricting access to learning resources.

Tips for Success

Stay updated: Age assurance laws evolve rapidly. Subscribe to policy newsletters and participate in relevant working groups.
Collaborate: Share your experiences with other open source projects to develop unified responses.
Prioritize usability for all ages: Minors benefit from open source – don’t create barriers that exclude them from learning.
Document your reasoning: If you decide not to implement a certain method, explain why in your project’s compliance documentation.
Seek legal advice: This guide is not legal counsel. Consult a lawyer familiar with internet regulation for specific requirements.