Don't let Apple and Google become the government's ID check (S.1586 / H.R.3149)

I'm writing to ask you to oppose the App Store Accountability Act (S. 1586 / H.R. 3149). I understand the impulse behind it — keeping kids safe online matters to me too — but this bill takes an approach that hurts everyone's privacy without actually solving the problem it targets. The bill would force Apple and Google to verify the age of every single person opening an app store account, adults included. That means two private companies become the ID desk for the entire smartphone economy. A federal judge in Texas has already blocked that state's version of this law on First Amendment grounds, noting that the restricted categories of speech are "exceedingly overbroad" — comparing it to a law requiring every bookstore to card every customer at the door. Utah's version is being challenged as well. The same constitutional problems apply to the federal bill. The privacy risks are real, not hypothetical. To comply, app stores would have to collect age information and then pass it along to essentially every app developer, whether or not an app has any reason to need it. That creates a huge honeypot of sensitive personal data — exactly the kind of database bad actors and data brokers love. The bill claims submitting a government ID wouldn't be required, but the safe harbors are structured so that platforms would face real pressure to do it anyway. That falls hardest on vulnerable people and anyone accessing information that others might stigmatize. It also wouldn't even work as intended. Anyone determined to evade verification — including the kids the bill is meant to protect — can get around it easily, while the rest of us are stuck handing over sensitive documents. Blanket screening at the app store level is neither effective nor constitutional. Please oppose this bill. I'd appreciate hearing where you stand.