Of course, this is not only about Ubuntu, Fedora, or Linux Mint, as it would apply to all GNU/Linux distributions, desktop environments, and application hubs lke Flathub or Snap Store, which will have to comply with the upcoming law in the near future in some way, especially since similar laws have already been proposed in other US states, including New York and Colorado.
I credit Stallman with correctly being a zealot unwilling to give an inch on this topic for the last 30+ years. If he’d been the tiniest bit “realistic”, we wouldn’t have Linux or GNU coreutils or ad-free browsers.
Here’s the deal: I paid for this computer, it is mine. I can make its logic gates do anything I want (back then there was no Internet so it couldn’t reach out and hack/defraud someone else)
No matter what, it will be trivial to fork either Fedora installer or whatever to remove this. And because it’s files that are freely given away, it’s a lot harder to legally restrict than other consumer software.
No, age verification is not in inevitability. Neither is panopticon surveillance. We have the defensive shields.
I’m feeling the need to go a little more purist about open source these days. Every closed-source program lets you down in the end.