1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose age verification legislation in our state. While protecting children online is important, these laws fundamentally undermine civil liberties and fail to deliver on their promises. Proponents claim this is simply about protecting children from pornography, but the reality is far more concerning. These mandates actually remove power from parents and hand it to platforms and governments. Existing device-level parental controls already give families that authority without requiring every adult accessing legal content to submit their identity. Age verification systems function as surveillance infrastructure—they require platforms to log verification attempts, retain compliance records, and monitor users over time. This creates permanent, searchable records of who accessed what, tied to real identities. The legal reasoning used for pornography restrictions is already expanding to social media, news platforms, gaming, and AI tools. Every expansion is justified by the last. If the goal is truly parental control, existing tools can be improved rather than mandating mass identity collection. We cannot sacrifice privacy, free speech, and security for children's protections when less invasive alternatives exist. Please reject age verification mandates and protect both children and adults' fundamental rights online.