1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

I am writing to demand that you oppose H. R. 8250 the Parents Decide Act and similar measures. This act would require the providers of operating systems to require users verify their age in order to make an account to use the system in question and provide the ability for apps to query a user's age. This bill is flawed for a number of reasons. First the definitions of Operating System and Operating System Provider in the bill reference the term "General Purpose Computing Device" without defining it, which means in the broadest sense, it would apply to any device with a programmable microchip. This means things like smart appliances, TVs, programmable thermostats, cars, smart watches, and any number of other devices would require the user to provide their age in order to be used. It would also require that anyone providing code for use in hobby projects using programmable microchips or small integrated system on a chip devices, like the ESP32 or Arduino platforms, to implement age verification in the code that they provide, as such software would fall under the bill's overly broad definition of "Opperating System". These requirements would also extend to other devices as well which are what laymen consider traditional computers and tablets that run opperating systems, like Linux, Windows, or Android, but also run specialized software on top of the OS, such as ATMs and bank Kiosks, self check out machines in grocery stores, fuel pumps, point of sale registers. Any where that there is a computer with a public facing interface, under this law, that device would require the user to first enter their age in order to use. This is frankly an insane demand, and gross overreach and invasion of privacy. In many cases it would also not only be impossible to enforce, in many instances in would be impossible to implement. There is almost nothing in this bill that gives parents any kind of decision, and the provisions that are there, such as parental controls, already exist on every single platform where it actually matters. This bill will only cause harm with no benefit. You must vote NO on it.