EdLaw
Alabama — device filters for minors (Code of Ala. 1975 §§8-19H-1 to 8-19H-5)
Chapter 8-19H of Title 8 (Commercial Law and Consumer Protection) runs §§8-19H-1 to 8-19H-5, and each section is credited to Act 2025-406, which is SB186 of the 2025 Regular Session; the Act's Section 6 provides that "This act shall become effective on October 1, 2025". "Devices activated in this state" must contain a filter, ask the user's age during activation and account set-up, and enable the filter automatically for a minor (§8-19H-2). A device is "A tablet or a smartphone manufactured on or after October 1, 2025" (§8-19H-1(2)). The duty falls on the manufacturer, through civil liability and Attorney General enforcement. ALISON heads none of the five sections with an effective-date marker.
Applicability to EdTech
- The duty is the manufacturer's. A manufacturer is a person that makes the device, holds the patents for the device or for its operating system, and "Has a commercial designated registered agent in this state" (§8-19H-1(5)). An EdTech company that only supplies software or content on someone else's tablet is not a manufacturer under this definition.
- The device definition is narrow. A tablet must have a mobile operating system, a touchscreen, a rechargeable battery, and "the ability to support access to a cellular network" (§8-19H-1(12)). Video game consoles are excluded (§8-19H-3(c)(2)). A Wi-Fi-only headset or classroom device is outside the tablet definition as printed.
- The filter's scope. The filter must be able to stop the device "accessing or displaying obscene material through Internet browsers or search engines owned and controlled by the manufacturer" (§8-19H-1(3)). The device must notify the user when a site is blocked, and a non-minor with the password may deactivate and reactivate the filter (§8-19H-2(5)–(6)).
- Liability for disabling the filter. Anyone other than a minor's parent or legal guardian, school staff included, may be liable for intentionally using the password to remove or deactivate the filter on a minor's device if the minor then accesses obscene material (§8-19H-4).
- Good-faith defence. A manufacturer that makes "a good faith effort" to provide an automatically enabled, compliant filter is not liable under §8-19H-3 (§8-19H-3(b)).
Contents
| Document | Covers |
|---|---|
| DEVICE-FILTERS.md | §§8-19H-1 to 8-19H-5 in full |
Enforcement
The Attorney General may sue for an injunction, and for civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation and $50,000 in aggregate, plus expenses and fees (§8-19H-5(a)). Each non-compliant device manufactured on or after October 1, 2025 is a separate violation (§8-19H-5(d)). A manufacturer with a repeated pattern of violations risks revocation of its licence to do business (§8-19H-5(c)). Manufacturers are also subject to civil liability when a minor accesses obscene material on a non-compliant device (§8-19H-3(a)). No cause of action lies against a retailer (§8-19H-3(c)(3)).
Not extracted: Chapter 8-19K (app store providers and developers)
ALISON lists a Chapter 8-19K of twelve sections, §§8-19K-1 to 8-19K-12, each credited to Act 2026-59 and each headed "(Effective January 1, 2027)". Its sections run from "Age Verification Requirements" and "Minor Account Requirements; Parental Consent" through "Developer Requirements; Prohibited Activities" and "Liability; Safe Harbor Provisions" (§8-19K-1, rendered 2026-10-08). The chapter has not commenced, so it is not carried (METHODOLOGY §6). build_al_devices.py checks the "(Effective January 1, 2027)" marker on every run and fails once that date passes, so the chapter is picked up when it commences.
Licence
The reproduced text is Code of Ala. 1975 §§8-19H-1 to 8-19H-5, enacted by the Alabama Legislature and served on the Legislature's ALISON site. No copyright subsists in statute text. In Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 590 U.S. 255 (2020) (slip opinion), the Supreme Court held that "officials empowered to speak with the force of law cannot be the authors of—and therefore cannot copyright—the works they create in the course of their official duties". The ALISON section pages carry only "© 2026" beneath the Legislature's address in their footer. That notice cannot reach the statutory text, and the corpus takes none of the site's own matter.
Conditions: none. The corpus names the source in Sources and in each section's {.meta} provenance line.
Related
- Alabama — student data governance (research note) — the wider Alabama finding, which names this chapter
- Alabama Data Breach Act — the other Title 8 chapter in the corpus
- CIPA — the federal filtering requirement on schools and libraries that take E-rate funding, a different duty-holder
Sources
- Alabama Legislature (ALISON) — Code of Alabama §§8-19H-1 to 8-19H-5
- Alabama Legislature (ALISON) — SB186, 2025 Regular Session, enrolled — the bill enacted as Act 2025-406; Section 6: "This act shall become effective on October 1, 2025"
- Alabama Legislative Services Agency — 2025 Regular Session, acts with Code sections amended, added or repealed — lists Act 2025-406, §§8-19H-1 to 8-19H-5 "Added", bill SB186, effective date 10/1/2025 (table dated Sept. 10, 2025)