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Key developments
Congress readies KIDS Act age-verification vote
EFF's Joe Mullin reports Congress is preparing to vote within the next week on the KIDS Act, a package combining a revised Kids Online Safety Act with other internet bills. The bill would trigger duties when platforms know or “should have known” a user is a child or teen, creating pressure to collect IDs, passports, driver licenses, facial scans, or age-estimation signals. EFF says the package also reaches chatbot features, explicit content, direct messages, disappearing messages, and AI chat services.
Why it matters
The proposal could make age verification a de facto condition for broad internet access, affecting adults, minors, anonymous speech, and private communications.
Sources & driving stories
EFF · Joe Mullin
EFF coverageOne Medical hit with breach class actions
Becker's Hospital Review's Naomi Diaz reports Amazon-owned One Medical, through defendant 1Life Healthcare, is facing a proposed class action filed June 19 in the Northern District of California after a breach involving One Medical Senior Health clinics. One Medical disclosed June 17 that it learned June 13 of unauthorized access to a third-party file storage system holding archived Iora Health information; potentially exposed data included demographic and clinical records for patients in cities including Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, and others. Plaintiffs allege failures including lack of encryption, insufficient multi-factor authentication, and poor vendor oversight; five similar suits have also been filed.
Why it matters
The case sharpens scrutiny of healthcare providers’ responsibility for archived patient data held in third-party systems.
Sources & driving stories
BECKERS HOSPITAL REVIEW · Naomi Diaz
Beckers Hospital Review coverageCourts restrict federal voter-data efforts
Reuters reported through The Detroit News that a 2-1 Sixth Circuit panel upheld an order blocking the Justice Department from obtaining Michigan’s unredacted qualified voter file records, finding the demand lacked the required statutory basis and purpose. Separately, MR Online reported that U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated Trump administration SAVE program changes that enabled bulk name searches and state voter-roll uploads, citing Privacy Act, Social Security disclosure, and Administrative Procedure Act violations. Both disputes centered on government access to voter records containing sensitive identifiers.
Why it matters
The rulings limit efforts to repurpose voter and benefits-verification systems for bulk identity screening ahead of elections.
Sources & driving stories
REUTERS
Reuters coverageMR ONLINE
MR Online coverageWorth noting
WORTH NOTING
Vermont enacted health-data privacy laws
Lexology reports Vermont enacted H.639 for direct-to-consumer genetic testing and S.71 for consumer health data, including consent requirements, geofencing restrictions near health facilities, biometric and neural data protections, and attorney-general-only enforcement.
WORTH NOTING
FCC phone-number KYC draws opposition
EFF’s Chao Liu says EFF and ACLU filed reply comments opposing an FCC proposal requiring telecom providers to collect enhanced identity and address data from people seeking phone numbers, arguing STIR/SHAKEN compliance would address spam calls without eliminating anonymous lines.
WORTH NOTING
Cellebrite use alleged in Russia
The Record’s Suzanne Smalley summarized Citizen Lab findings that Russian authorities used Cellebrite UFED to extract data from dissident Andrey Pivovarov’s devices after Cellebrite had publicly restricted Russia, raising post-sale abuse and due-diligence questions.
Still unclear
OPEN QUESTION
Will age and phone KYC mandates converge?
The KIDS Act and FCC proposal both point toward identity-based access controls for everyday communications, raising shared questions about anonymity, exclusion, and data-retention risk.
OPEN QUESTION
How durable are voter-data limits?
The Michigan voter-roll and SAVE rulings restrict specific legal mechanisms, but agencies may pursue narrower demands or revised rules for bulk eligibility and citizenship screening.