Statement of Morgan Reed, President, ACT | The App Association

App developers need legal frameworks that enable them to provide parents the readily available and functional means of managing their kids’ devices and access to age-appropriate apps. This requires flexibility to meet consumers’ expectations, consistent with how they interface with their smart devices.

Speaking to an amendment filed by Rep. John James (R-MI) for consideration during tomorrow’s House Energy and Commerce Committee scheduled markup, ACT | The App Association issued the following statement:

“This amendment imposes a morass of confusing and even contradictory requirements on parents, developers, and the stores themselves. The idea that a non-verbal child who uses their mobile device as their primary means of communication must request that their parent immediately provide verifiable parental consent any time they want to talk to their teacher is an unbelievable barrier to place in front of kids with special needs,” said App Association’s President, Morgan Reed, “for far more mundane uses, the idea that a stargazing app would have to artificially restrict usage to people over the age of 18 to avoid being bogged down in a labyrinthine framework of verifiable parental-consent-red-tape is bad for developers, kids, and parents alike.”