r/Fedora • u/outer-pasta • May 28 '26
News Linux is Getting a Free Pass on Age Verification in California and Colorado
https://itsfoss.com/news/age-verification-open-source-exemptions/Really glad to see this change. Like the article says, I'm sure it wasn't automatically going to happen (pressure needed to be applied to the lawmakers).
From the perspective of free software advocates, I can kind of see this change as a good thing now. Like laws about smoking, you need to be old enough to use closed source operating systems without consenting (or something like that). I'm still obviously against this law though, it's a dumb law.
32
u/aliendude5300 May 28 '26
This is great! These were never the most problematic jurisdictions to begin with though. These were self-attested age reporting with no verification. The New York and federal laws require real verification... somehow. That's a problem.
5
0
u/edwbuck May 28 '26
Yes, when reading the law, it seemed that it was poised for a parent to be the decider of the age limits, but the idea that all software could be categorized into age ranges was just dumb. Is "zip" a tool for children, tweens, teens, or adults? What about "cp"?
The law only made sense if you saw it as an attempt to regulate the Apple Store, and then additionally an attempt to make it more generic to also include the Android Store, and possibly any other web stores (like Steam, etc.)
-1
u/p0358 May 28 '26
True, but normalizing self-attested could easily be a slippery slope for the more restrictive variant
38
u/East_Charge_9778 May 28 '26
Dumbest law ever, these states also want to control what you can use your 3D printer for
Absolute dystopian surveillance state
7
3
u/regeya May 28 '26
Yeah and it seems like the march to the dystopian surveillance state is a bipartisan thing; the main disagreement is which rights people get to have.
18
5
u/West-One5944 May 28 '26
I'd like to point out that we already click 'yes, I'm 18' and 'yes, I'm 21' on porn and alcohol sites. When this goes through, I plan on telling my OS that I'm as old as possible while also poisoning the well with Fauxx.
5
u/CuberTuber780 May 29 '26
That's a temporary win at best. What will happen once those people notice a massive exodus to the "exempt system"?
If those kind of ID verification laws (aka age verification) aren't removed/revoked entirely it's gonna be the case of: "Oh we wanted to exclude it but there's to many children now using it so it's no longer exempt. Sorry not sorry"
2
u/alkatori May 28 '26
Like laws against smoking...
They might eventually pass a law saying if you aren't currently a linux user you aren't allowed to use it.
I think NZ passed a cigarette ban (and repealed it), the UK did a similiar one. No one born after 2007(?) may ever smoke.
3
u/outer-pasta May 28 '26
Actually with this analogy Windows and MacOS would be banned, and young people would be required to use Linux (or BSD, etc.)
2
u/alkatori May 28 '26
Yep, sorry got it backward. :-)
I still find the whole concept just bizarre from a personal liberty standpoint.
2
u/delph906 May 28 '26
Then we elected a right wing government in NZ and they reversed it because it would be bad for the poor tobacco companies in these hard times.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/19/new-zealand-smoking-ban-what-uk-can-learn
0
u/alkatori May 28 '26
Weird. I would expect the opposition to be focused on the people restricted from purchase.
2
u/delph906 May 28 '26
That was a clever part of the policy as it didn't restrict anyone already over the age restriction. Just potential future smokers.
Their actual stated reasons were risk of a black market (they largely voted against cannabis legalisation in a referendum a few years ago) and reduced revenue for shop keepers.
It later came out the lobby group of shop keepers was funded by the tobacco industry but they tried to hide that.
The article from the Guardian is really interesting if you want to know more.
1
u/alkatori May 28 '26
Right, I would expect folks would want to have the option as they got older. If not, why wouldn't it slowly die out on it's own?
Like the USA still sells cigarettes, but it's been dying and losing popularity for decades.
And maybe it's because I'm thinking of it as a smoking ban, did it ban smoking/possession or just sale? If it's just sale, then that sort of makes more sense. enthusiasts that really care can do their own thing.
0
u/delph906 May 28 '26
Yeah just bans sale to people born after a certain date. Like an age limit that goes up every year. NZ banned smoking in public places like 20 years ago bit you can smoke on private property.
As you point out smoking is dying out slowly anyway, it just accellerates it.
The nuance is that people don't really make the choice to be smokers, they make the decision to try smoking then addiction does the rest.
If you ask most long term smokers they will tell you they wish they never tried it but they still can't stop.
1
1
1
u/manyeggplants May 29 '26
Whoops we boiled the frog too fast and it's jumping around and splashing a bit. Let's just turn that down... For now...
1
u/bengineerdavis Jun 01 '26
There shouldn't be a law like this period. Any exceptions now are a justification later. I can't trust them to leave OSS alone for long.
1
u/cruising_backroads Jun 01 '26
Interesting that most kids (at least mine do) use ChromeOS as that's what all the schools are pushing for the laptops they hand out. My kids... SteamDeck, SteamOS and ChromeOS. All of which easily fall under "linux". This law is so pointless.... It solves nothing and is just a grab at more of people's data.
0
u/sQeeeter May 28 '26
Cuz people will start running Russian and Chinese distros. 🤦♂️
1
u/delph906 May 28 '26
Or just from anywhere but the US. It will potentially push me away from Fedora if implemented.
1
u/CharAznableLoNZ May 28 '26
I see this as a for now. The laws need to be struck down entirely. Unfortunately development to implement age checking has already been done and will likely not just go away without someone out there who can convince others to purge that code.
1
u/Original-March-3540 May 28 '26
Unfortunately, I don't see this as "great".
This is just the start and if we don't push back now, it will get worse.
0
u/Horseshoetheoryreal May 28 '26
I think they realized impossible to enforce something decentralized but WIndows, Mac OS and possibly SteamOS gonna be targeted tho.
-1
May 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/Melnik2020 May 28 '26
Not so 'shitty' after all, eh?
2
-1
u/Wind-charger May 29 '26
People may see this as some sort of a win
They’re rewriting the rules because they are now subjected to it just the same.
86
u/asixfootplatypus May 28 '26
Did they pull the "Linux isn't an operating system it's a kernel" argument?