• by Wendy Davis , 3 hours ago

Retailers are weighing in against a new Texas law requiring app stores like Google and Apple to verify users' ages and block minors under 18 from downloading apps or making in-app purchases, without parental consent.

In a proposed friend-of-the-court brief filed last week, the National Retail Federation and Texas Retailers Association say the law is so broad that it could restrict companies' ability to sell "everyday goods" -- such as books, movies and clothes -- through apps.

The groups are urging U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman in Austin to block the state's App Store Accountability Act (SB 2420), which was passed earlier this year and is slated to take effect January 1.

In addition to the parental consent requirement, the Texas law requires developers to say whether their apps are appropriate for children under 13, young teens (between 13 and 15), older teens (ages 16-17) or adults 18 and older. The statute also mandates that app developers say whether particular in-app purchases are appropriate for children, young teens, older teens or adults. 

Utah and Louisiana passed similar statutes this year, and federal lawmakers have introduced a nationwide version of the measure.

In October, the tech group Computer & Communications Industry Association and advocacy organization Students Engaged in Advancing Texas claimed in separate lawsuits that the Texas law violates the First Amendment. Those groups sought injunctions blocking enforcement, and the retail organizations are backing that request.

The statute "would subject retailers to a host of content-based regulations, ranging from restricting their abilities to sell famous literature to minors to forcing retailers to devise and publish opinions on which goods and apps are appropriate for which ages," the National Retail Federation and Texas group write.

The organizations add that the law also will force adults to prove their ages before making in-app purchases.

"The law is tantamount to carding an adult when he or she walks into a grocery store, and then carding them again at the point of purchase -- all while forcing retailers to age rate every item on the shelf, except that Texas is now only requiring retailers to do this for purchases made over an app," the organizations argue.

Pitman is expected to hold a hearing on the matter December 16.