Illinois Law HB5511 May Require Linux and Other OS Makers to Verify User Ages

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Illinois has passed House Bill 5511, a new law that could hold operating system developers, including those behind Linux, responsible for age verification of users. The legislation appears to extend age-verification obligations beyond app stores and websites to the operating system level itself. This would be an unusual and technically complex requirement, as Linux is largely developed by a distributed global community rather than a single corporate entity. Critics and observers are raising concerns about how such a law could practically be enforced against open-source projects. The bill marks one of the more far-reaching state-level attempts in the US to regulate minors' access to digital platforms.

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