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

I'm writing as a constituent deeply concerned about age verification legislation being pushed across 21 states—and potentially Congress—by foreign-backed organizations. An investigation revealed that five organizations, four of them British, are actively promoting these bills nationwide. The Age Verification Providers Association—a trade group whose members sell verification technology—is among them. Another group, 5Rights Foundation, is registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and paid $50,000 to lobby California's legislature in 2022. They didn't disclose the foreign connection until over a year after their bill passed. These groups helped write Britain's Online Safety Act and are now trying to import that same framework here. We're being asked to trust legislation essentially drafted abroad, promoted by organizations with financial stakes in the surveillance infrastructure it would create. I support protecting children online, but mass age verification carries serious privacy consequences for all Americans. These systems require collecting identifying information from ordinary users, creating databases vulnerable to breaches or mission creep. Once built, such surveillance infrastructure rarely gets taken down. As a federal representative, you have influence over national privacy standards and can block harmful precedents. Please don't allow foreign-backed lobbyists to determine whether Americans lose their right to browse privately. If age verification bills reach Congress, I urge you to oppose versions shaped by overseas interests and commercial vendors profiting from surveillance. Thank you for your time and consideration.