The Free Software Foundation Comes Out Against the GUARD Act and Age-Verification Laws

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced the start of a campaign directed against the GUARD Act in the United States, as well as against similar laws requiring the age verification of internet users that are being adopted in various countries around the world.

What the initiative is about

According to the organization, laws of this kind pose a threat not only to users' privacy but to the principles of free software as a whole. The FSF is calling on the community to join forces in opposing such initiatives.

The organization has traditionally championed users' right to control their own technology and data, and it views mandatory age-verification requirements as a potential tool for tightening control over users and curtailing anonymity online.

Context

In recent years, age-verification laws have been introduced in many jurisdictions under the pretext of protecting minors from undesirable content. Civil-rights organizations, the FSF among them, regularly point to the risks of such measures: the need to collect personal data, the use of invasive identification technologies, and the potential restriction of access to open and decentralized services.

The FSF stresses that the fight against legislation of this kind must be waged collectively—by developers of free software as well as by a broader circle of concerned users and organizations that defend digital rights.

Details of the campaign and ways to take part in it have been published on the foundation's website.

Source: Lobsters