Illinois Now Requires Operating Systems to Report Children's Ages — No Break for Open Source

Illinois has become the latest U.S. state to pull operating systems into the business of age verification. Governor J. B. Pritzker has signed HB5511 — the Children's Online Social Media Safety Act.

How it's supposed to work

The law creates a category of “covered manufacturers,” which sweeps in device makers, operating system providers and app stores all at once. By January 1, 2028, when an account is set up they must ask a parent or account holder for the child's date of birth. That date is translated into one of four age groups: under 13, 13–15, 16–17, and 18+. Every signal transmitted must be encrypted.

Apps will be able to request this group via an API at installation or launch. As soon as an app receives a minor flag, it is legally deemed to have “actual knowledge” of that fact. From then on a set of protective settings kicks in: feeds are restricted, profiles are hidden from strangers who are adults, messages from adults are blocked, precise location is masked, and notifications are turned off from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Parents can override these settings, and teens over 16 can do so on their own.

Apps have until July 1, 2028, to begin requesting the signals. A violation carries a fine of up to $50,000 per instance; enforcement falls to the state attorney general. Manufacturers and developers who acted in good faith are not liable if a signal turns out to be wrong.

The bill passed easily: 82 votes to 27 in the House and 57 to 0 in the Senate.

So where's the open-source exception?

Illinois isn't breaking new ground. The same model — where the app asks and the device answers — is used by Colorado's SB26-051 and California's AB-1043. Both originally applied to any OS and any developer, with no exceptions.

In Colorado the situation was fixed by System76 founder Carl Richell, who worked directly with lawmakers: language was added to the text exempting software distributed under terms that allow free copying, modification and distribution, along with a ban on blocking modified versions. In California, AB-1043's author, Buffy Wicks, introduced a separate bill, AB-1856, which after several revisions redefined the term “operating system provider” so as to exclude free software.

HB5511 has nothing of the kind. The definitions of “covered manufacturer” and “app store” remained exactly as broad as the Colorado and California laws were before their amendments. In other words, Linux distributions and independent developers formally end up under the same yoke as Apple and Google — at least until someone repeats Richell's feat and lobbies for an exception.

Source: Hacker News