Vote Against S. 5090 (Digital Age Assurance Act)

I'm writing to ask that you vote against the Digital Age Assurance Act (S. 5090). I know it has bipartisan backing—Sen. Andy Kim introduced it with support from Sens. Lummis, Schiff, and Barrasso—but the mechanism it sets up is exactly the kind of surveillance infrastructure that privacy advocates have warned against for years. The bill would require every operating system sold in the U.S. to embed age verification at the account setup. Users would have to pick an age bracket—under 13, 13–15, 16, or 17 and up—and apps would be required to read that signal. Kids under 17 would have to link to a parent's account. Violators face fines up to $7,500 per child, per incident. On the surface, protecting minors sounds reasonable. But putting age checks at the OS level means this isn't just one website anymore; it's every app, every browser, everything you do on your phone or laptop. Reclaim The Net put it bluntly: this is digital ID by another name, built into the machine. Once your device knows your age and broadcasts it to every piece of software, opting out isn't really an option. Privacy groups including the EFF, ACLU, and Center for Democracy & Technology have been consistent on this: mandatory age verification creates dangerous surveillance, undermines anonymity, and chills lawful speech. Adults lose the ability to read or browse privately. Young people face increased data exposure when their age gets linked to their entire digital footprint. And history shows us that whenever you build a database, it eventually leaks—the FTC has documented multiple breaches from age verification providers already. There are also real equity concerns. Facial age estimation, which some companies are pushing as an alternative, works worse for people of color and LGBTQ+ youth, according to EFF testing. The compliance burden hits smaller developers and open-source projects hardest. I understand the intention is to protect kids. But this approach sacrifices everyone's privacy for a system that will create new vectors for harm while doing little to actually keep minors safer. Please vote against S. 5090 and work with colleagues to find solutions that don't require turning every smartphone into an identity checkpoint. Thanks for considering my concerns.