The Real Cost of the App Store Accountability Act

Congress Should Avoid an App Store Crack-Up

Prominent members of Congress are reviving the Open App Markets Act (OAMA), a bill they say will create “a freer and fairer marketplace” in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. But rather than opening “the door to more choices and innovation,” the legislation would do the opposite: It would weaken security, reduce customer choice, and stifle the very dynamism that made America the global tech leader. Supporters of OAMA argue that Apple and…

The Real Cost of the App Store Accountability Act

The App Store Accountability Act, recently introduced in Congress, presents itself as a solution to protect children online. In reality, it is a sweeping mandate that forces every American to surrender personal data just to use every day mobile apps. By requiring universal age verification at the app store level, most likely through government-issued IDs, this bill mandates the collection of sensitive personal information from millions of users,…