News

Censorship & Access Control

Restrictions and requirements that governments and platforms set on getting online, reaching content and publishing apps, including website blocking, age verification, real-name rules and developer verification.

California AB 1856's open source operating system exemption

California's AB 1856, signed in September, amends a state law requiring operating systems to ask for a user's age at account setup. Under the amendment, a person or entity that distributes an operating system or app under a licence allowing copying, redistribution and modification is not a covered operating system provider. The rules apply from 2027 and are aimed at account holders in California.

Based on 15 sources, including California Legislative Information, CalMatters Digital Democracy, Office of the Governor of California

Utah's VPN-related location provision and US site-blocking bills

On 24 September a federal court in Utah paused a state provision requiring adult websites to determine whether VPN users are in Utah. The same month, two US site-blocking bills took opposite approaches to VPN providers. As of 7 October the lawsuit continues and the bills are in committee. Neither changes how people outside the US use VPNs.

Based on 24 sources, including United States District Court, District of Utah, Utah State Legislature, Utah Office of Administrative Rules

F-Droid 2.0 and Google's Android developer verification

F-Droid, the open-source Android app store, released 2.0, a rewrite that requires Android 7, on 24 September. From 30 September Google began requiring apps on seven stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand to be registered by identity-verified developers, with a global expansion to certified Android devices planned for 2027. As of 2 October, installing apps from F-Droid is unaffected anywhere.

Based on 18 sources, including F-Droid, Google, Conversations

Spain’s administrative block on archive.today

A commission under Spain's Ministry of Culture has ordered ISPs to block the archive.today web archive and its mirror domains without any court ruling, and OONI measurements show the effect.

Based on 7 sources, including Ministerio de Cultura, Reclaim The Net, Banda Ancha

Privacy design and disputes around the EU age verification app

The European Commission recommends that member states launch an age verification app by the end of 2026; users outside the EU are not affected. According to the Commission, the app keeps no ID documents or biometric data, while EDRi questions its privacy protections. Under the Commission's specification released in September, apps and websites must implement zero-knowledge proofs, falling back only on devices without support to a plain method that an issuer could trace.

Based on 11 sources, including European Commission, EDRi, EU Digital Identity Wallet