Summary
- California (AB 1856) and Colorado (SB 26-051) have enacted laws requiring operating systems to implement device-level age verification but have specifically exempted open-source software.
- These mandates require “Operating System Providers” to collect a user’s age during account setup and share a non-identifiable “age signal” with third-party apps.
- Following significant backlash from open source community, both states narrowed their definitions to exclude Linux and open source software distributed under licenses that allow users to copy, redistribute, and modify the code.
- While a pure Linux distribution is exempt, platforms like Valve’s SteamOS may still fall under the mandate. This is because SteamOS ships with a proprietary storefront and client.
- Similarly, while Android is technically open source, the version shipped on most phones includes proprietary Google Play Services, which would likely trigger the mandate.
So we’re going to roll back those PR’s for systemd and the like right? Or are we going to keep them because Brazil? Oh who am I kidding, those are here to stay.
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google wants that shit though, and hopefully non steamos distros with handheld/deck build will add steam frame support pretty quick. The only thing weird I’ve seen on handheld builds is the game mode/ big picture system update screen shows the steamos changelog and not whatever distro you actually have, unless it got a workaround or fix while I wasn’t looking.
And AOSP is Linux, right? Right?
The fact that they could do this exception proves the rest of it is not needed, either.
Yeah what about the “harmful effects” of a minor for Linux computer looking at stuff social conservative arbitrarily desired they shouldn’t? Bullshit law
They just carved in exception large enough to drive a truck through so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Making Linux PCs readily available to anyone who wants one is now a moral imperative. It’s time to start refurbishing old laptops and buying cheap single board computers and selling them on the street corner
Year of the Linux Desktop folks.
I am not optimistic that either Polis or Newsom would sign a bill with such an exception.
No but it’s at least a delay in this draconian bullshit, and maybe we’ll get lucky and neither are smart enough to know what Linux is
It’s not a delay. It’s a trojan horse. First you fuck with the closed source OSes and then later when everyone is cool with that you can just do the same to linux and say “look at windows, they’re fine. you’ll be fine too.”
As I posted elsewhere:
When I spoke with Wicks’ staffers in charge of this, they said that the reason behind it is that California has age restrictions for various kinds of sites and applications (no porn apps under 18, restrictions on social media and chat for kids, etc). The various big tech companies said they didn’t want to be responsible for figuring out how to track and verify all that, so they asked for something that would mean they didn’t have to.
The bill was originally written with that as the background, and they specifically added language about just trusting what was entered and not collecting identification past that.
I got the impression that the staffers were intelligent, thoughtful people, just with no experience or knowledge of non big tech stuff. They have been living in the Apple/Microsoft/Google world like most normies. They were very surprised and intrigued when I told them that Debian collects no information on users. One said they were interested in giving Linux a try because of how bad Windows 11 is.
That’s true my only question is with Linux its physically impossible to implement due to two questions.
When does Linux become an operating system? The answer is no one knows since it can be a full DE or a kennel and init system and a shell and there is no standard init system who do you regulate.
Who owns Linux? The answer is when you install Linux at that time you are also forking Linux so the answer is you own it. So its no one and everyone at the same time. If north Korea can use Linux and make their own distro and sanctions can’t do anything about it. This law can’t stop anyone at home or distro based in another Country from just ripping out any chuck of code that is put in by this law.
If the current draft passes, it does something as well. Websites that want or have to rely on the signal will do it. Linux users will have to implement something if they want to access them. Parents that want to limit the access for their children on linux will be looking for implementations and use them. Everything happening without forcing the distributions.
No. I think a chunk of this is aimed at open source.
I’m sure that most companies will happily collect the data to sell to advertisers, but I hope that at least some companies will decide that it’s too difficult and open source their code
