--- title: Are you f**king kidding? | daily.dev description: California and Colorado have passed/proposed laws requiring operating systems and app stores to collect age verification data from users, with fines up to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Are you f**king kidding? | daily.dev og:description: California and Colorado have passed/proposed laws requiring operating systems and app stores to collect age verification data from users, with fines up to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/1WpXhOoet.png og:image:alt: Are you f**king kidding? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Are you f**king kidding? **[Theo - t3․gg](https://daily.dev/sources/t3dotgg)** · 15 min read · 46 upvotes · 18 comments ## Summary California and Colorado have passed/proposed laws requiring operating systems and app stores to collect age verification data from users, with fines up to $7,500 per affected minor for intentional violations. The author argues these laws are written by legislators who don't understand software, will create massive compliance burdens for open-source maintainers, fragment software distribution across state lines, and expose users to unnecessary privacy risks by forcing collection of sensitive identity data. Real-world effects are already visible: MidnightBSD updated its license to exclude California residents, Canonical is reviewing Ubuntu's response, and Discord is requiring face scans or IDs. The author calls on developers—especially those in California—to contact their state representatives to push back against these laws before they spread further. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@bazdev** · 19 upvotes > This is bonkers. I am so tired of the government using "the children" as a shield for their Orwellian antics. **@fabianletsch** · 18 upvotes > Reality: Adult creates account, minor uses it. > > > Nobody is helped except the governments tracking our every move. **@cobrasnakebyte** · 7 upvotes > Anything to get around our right to privacy. **@gregerolsson** · 2 upvotes >  **@macb** · 2 upvotes > what is even the reason ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [California’s age verification law applies to Linux, FreeBSD, and FreeDOS too](https://daily.dev/posts/california-s-age-verification-law-applies-to-linux-freebsd-and-freedos-too-s05pz4jbv) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript), [#react](https://daily.dev/tags/react), [#typescript](https://daily.dev/tags/typescript) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Are you f**king kidding?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet"},"datePublished":"2026-03-09T08:25:58.079Z","dateModified":"2026-03-09T08:26:36.458Z","description":"California and Colorado have passed/proposed laws requiring operating systems and app stores to collect age verification data from users, with fines up to...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1HeALnI-gVg/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1HeALnI-gVg/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Theo - t3․gg","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Theo - t3․gg","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--UmX7IyU3--/f_auto/v1704628081/logos/t3dotgg.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/t3dotgg"},"commentCount":18,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":46},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":18}],"keywords":"webdev,javascript,react,typescript","timeRequired":"PT15M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Are you f**king kidding?","description":"California and Colorado have passed/proposed laws requiring operating systems and app stores to collect age verification data from users, with fines up to...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1HeALnI-gVg/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-03-09T08:25:58.079Z","duration":"PT15M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/1WpXhOoet","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/1HeALnI-gVg"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Theo - t3․gg","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/t3dotgg"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Are you f**king kidding?"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/are-you-f-king-kidding--1wpxhooet","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"This is bonkers. I am so tired of the government using “the children” as a shield for their Orwellian antics.","datePublished":"2026-03-10T17:31:20.472Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1WpXhOoet#c-vQhYyHkfQ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Baz Heath","url":"https://daily.dev/bazdev","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/453526?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":19}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Reality: Adult creates account, minor uses it.\nNobody is helped except the governments tracking our every move.","datePublished":"2026-03-11T08:30:27.669Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1WpXhOoet#c-TAbVOVaV1","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Fabian Letsch","url":"https://daily.dev/fabianletsch","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKR6BVy_wn23EoOKq7-BlszlcXcLmASlnb7l-GtS-q1bePnkaJf=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":18}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Anything to get around our right to privacy.","datePublished":"2026-03-15T06:13:57.218Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1WpXhOoet#c-afLGHT7yd","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"CobraSnakeByte","url":"https://daily.dev/cobrasnakebyte","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--hqDrNVWw--/f_auto/v1764657202/avatars/avatar_92oLYA43501sYL2MFaYRG?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"","datePublished":"2026-03-15T14:48:25.594Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1WpXhOoet#c-JWGHfIv13","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Greger Olsson","url":"https://daily.dev/gregerolsson","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/306822?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"what is even the reason","datePublished":"2026-03-15T19:09:53.037Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/1WpXhOoet#c-ApaeCJz54","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"MB","url":"https://daily.dev/macb","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocIbyht175AwV5Amxllef4auarOmGuIsWSwu-cVI5NC0KPhhrA=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} ```