#System76 on #AgeVerification Laws

https://blog.system76.com/post/system76-on-age-verification

#privacy #cybersecurity #Linux #FOSS #IdentityVerification #politics

Seems like those boomers don't understand how the Linux community works

#Linux #AgeVerification #AgeVerificationLaw #Meme #Memes #RoastingCalifornia #FosseryTech

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Types of headaches: migraine, hypertension, stress, going after every single Linux distro maintainer for not implementing age verification

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Age verification? What about verifying your braincells first?

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Californian lawmaker gets a phone call from the Linux community. Hello, Linux community here. You loser! There are thousands of us, volunteers. Good luck going after all of us, morons!

California introduces age verification law for all operating systems, including Linux and SteamOS — user age verified during OS account setup

California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) requires every operating system provider in California to collect age information from users at account setup. The law takes effect on January 1, 2027 and does not require photo ID uploads or facial recognition

#California #ageverification #privacy #surveillance #technology #tech

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law

RE: https://masto.ai/@GhostOnTheHalfShell/116183298054944140

Age verification laws, particularly the ridiculous one passed in California requiring such verification when an operating system is installed is totalitarian. States across America are actively pursuing legislation in a similar vein. I urge everyone to tell their representatives and their governor just put a stop to this, and revoke any legislation that’s been passed.

Do not let them rest

https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact/

https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

#AgeVerification

A world without privacy is also a world without intimacy, without individuality, without diversity, and without democracy.

Certain politicians have clearly expressed they want a world without privacy.

We cannot let them have it passively. We must fight back for our rights. Now.

Or we will lose them.

#Privacy #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism #AgeVerification

It just modifies the OS identifiers of an existing #Debian installation, and installs a stub age verification API that returns no data – but hey, it's already a first signal that not everybody will just give in.

»We are in full, knowing, and intentional noncompliance with the age verification requirements of Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.501(a).«

FYI, not really a recommendation:

https://goblincorps.com/ageless-linux.html

#AgeVerification #AB1043

EU Chat Control drops mandatory encryption-breaking scans — huge privacy win after years of resistance! 🎉

But now pushes mandatory age verification across apps, risking anonymity while letting Big Tech "voluntarily" scan. Fight continues in trilogues. 🛡️

🔗 https://tuta.com/blog/chat-control-criticism

#TechNews #Privacy #Chat #Control #ChatControl #EU #Europe #Encryption #AgeVerification #Surveillance #DigitalRights #Resistance #Cybersecurity #Anonymity #BigTech

Age verification is spreading like the plague. When does it stop? 🤧

https://itsfoss.com/news/age-verification-pandemic/

#privacy #ageverification

@nixCraft

And this bullshit is because of #ageverification garbage regulation too...

Australia's Age Gate Begins: What Gamers and Publishers Must Know

#AgeVerification #GTA #OnlineSafety #AusNews #GamingRegulation #DigitalPolicy

https://thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-06-australias-age-gate-begins-what-gamers-and-publishers-must-know-4647a9a2

System76 on Age Verification Laws

https://blog.system76.com/post/system76-on-age-verification/

#HackerNews #System76 #AgeVerification #Laws #Technology #Privacy #Policy

https://itsfoss.com/news/age-verification-pandemic/

As of today, about half of all U.S. states have some form of age verification law around. Not just the US, but the UK, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, and of course the EU, all either already have, or are planing Age verification laws.

#AgeVerification #Linux #surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism #Privacy

It was *never* about the children.

The recent age verification mandates for operating systems and websites have massive implications. It's about mass surveillance, privacy, and censorship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqt5czOckdw

#tech #technology #unitedstates #america #masssurveillance #censorship #privacy #surveillance #ageverification #age #google #microsoft #apple #clientsidescanning #api #dystopia

FTC to Turn a Blind Eye to Age Verification Privacy Violations

The FTC has issued a statement saying that it won't enforce COPPA if the violations relate to age verification.

https://www.freezenet.ca/ftc-to-turn-a-blind-eye-to-age-verification-privacy-violations/

#News #Privacy #Security #AgeVerification #COPPA #FTC #surveillance #US

Apple launches global age-verification tools, blocking 18+ apps in Brazil/Australia/Singapore and sharing age brackets via new Declared Age Range API. 🧩

Complies with child safety laws in Utah/Louisiana while avoiding personal data collection, shifting age compliance to developers. 🛡️

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/24/apple-rolls-out-age-verification-tools-worldwide-to-comply-with-growing-web-of-child-safety-laws/

#TechNews #Privacy #Apple #AgeVerification #AppStore #Security #iOS #Apps #Children #Safety #Data #Regulation #DigitalRights #Government #Cybersecurity #Brazil #Australia #Singapore

California’s AB 1043 forces all OS vendors—including Linux distros and SteamOS—to send apps real-time “age bracket” signals starting 2027. 🧩

Sold as self-reported child safety, but makes OS an age oracle for developers, hitting privacy and open platforms hard. 🛡️

🔗 https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law

#TechNews #Privacy #Government #Surveillance #AgeVerification #Linux #SteamOS #BigTech #Children #Safety #Data #Security #DigitalRights #OS #Regulation #Freedom #Cybersecurity #California #OpenSource

#ComputerScientists Caution Against Internet #AgeVerification Mandates
An #openletter warns of #censorship, centralized power, and loss of #privacy.
The computer scientists aren't just responding to California's law. #Age-verification requirements are spreading across the world. "The age-gating wave is coming along with calls for stronger child safety measures online, despite concerns about privacy, security, and censorship."
https://reason.com/2026/03/04/computer-scientists-caution-against-internet-age-verification-mandates/

I'm 55 fucking years old and I'm not complying with this age verification bullshit. Ever. I'll keep switching distros if I have to.

I will abandon any distro that includes this shit. I'll switch to TempleOS if I must.

#Linux #AgeVerification

🚨 ID checks to get online could become the new norm 🚨

A new amendment would give the UK government sweeping powers to block access to lawful information and communications.

That's unless we submit our identification to a bounty of providers.

Tell your MP to stop this broad and repressive law ⬇️

https://action.openrightsgroup.org/no-id-checks-web-access

#privacy #freedomofexpression #ageverification #digitalID #onlinesafety #ukpolitics #ukpol

New powers would let Ministers pick and choose what should be restricted, as well as impose curfews on access.

All without having to prove sites are harmful for children.

They don’t just cover social media, but all 'Internet services’ – blogs, websites, online games and more.

This is overreach.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/under-16-social-media-ban-overturned-5HjdTnr_2/

#privacy #freedomofexpression #ageverification #digitalID #onlinesafety #ukpolitics #ukpol

Looks to me as if mandatory #ageVerification has already been implemented at #Vimeo.
I can access videos with deep-links, but when I try to log in I get this age verification screen.

Bummer. I'm not sharing my passport with them. Can't they make this mandatory only for R-rated stuff?

Alt...

Age verification screen at log in to Vimeo (from Germany)

Fortune: #Discord cuts ties with #PeterThiel-backed verification software after its #code was found tied to U.S. #surveillance efforts - https://web.archive.org/web/20260224100715/https://fortune.com/2026/02/24/discord-peter-thiel-backed-persona-identity-verification-breach/

#Persona basically left their code accessible on a #USGovernment endpoint. Researchers looked.

Yeah, they know what you say on #SocialMedia, #FacialIdentity, and 267 other things to identify and profile you.

#PersonalIdentity #AgeVerification #SpyWare #PersonaIdentities #hack #hackers #WhiteHat

California's age verification law empowers malicious actors with a grooming tool to narrow down the hunt for children.

Age Verification Mandates: The ‘Protect the Kids’ Scam That’s Building a Permanent Surveillance Grid

https://youtu.be/lqt5czOckdw

#AgeVerification

Computer Scientists Caution Against Internet Age-Verification Mandates
#identity #privacy #ageverification #security

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/04/197220/computer-scientists-caution-against-internet-age-verification-mandates?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

@nixCraft

How about we make arch install scripts more user friendly, can't regulate the OS if its distributed in parts right?

#FLOSS #Linux #AgeVerification #Anarchism #ArchLinux

CCIA is testifying today in opposition to Kansas SB 372, warning that conditioning access to lawful digital content on #AgeVerification raises serious #FirstAmendment concerns, could require the collection of sensitive ID or biometric data, and creates major compliance uncertainty. Read more: https://ccianet.org/news/2026/03/ccia-testifies-in-opposition-to-kansas-app-store-age-verification-bill/

#Privacy Wonks will hate it, but Mark #Zuckerberg is correct that the proper place for prescriptive #AgeVerification is in the App Store of a mobile device […because it…] is a degenerate form of what we should have been doing all along: age attestation, not age verification.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pqu2e7tcsysxrlkarhfm3z5u/post/3mgaal5ij6i2n

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Gatekeeping and Age Attestation Privacy Wonks will hate it, but Mark Zuckerberg is correct that the proper place for prescriptive Age Verification is in the App Store of a mobile device; yes, that means Google and Apple will “find out more about you” but that can be minimised if they choose to implement a privacy-preserving protocol a-la what happened over COVID tracking. The reason people are angry about this is that they don’t understand that the App-Store-and-Google/Apple-Account approach to AV is a degenerate form of what we should have been doing all along: age attestation, not age verification. The user should be signed up with their own preferred provider of private age-attestation services which they can enmesh into whatever transactions they require an age test for; this puts the user in control of provider choice and information protection, and the reliant parties — vendors, porn sites, forums, whatever — should be obliged to accept attestation tokens. But we don’t do that, probably because (a) it makes less money for the industry and (b) because Governments get more ID tracking metadata with the age verification approach.

Well, the markup is officially on the House E&C Committee schedule. Looks like they chose the following bills:
-Children and Teen's Online Privacy Protection Act (aka COPPA 2.0)
-App Store Accountability Act
-Sammy's Law
-KIDS Act (an amalgam of various bills [specific bills detailed below])

The KIDS Act is an amalgam of the following bills:
-SCREEN Act
-Kids Online Safety Act
-Safe Messaging for Kids Act
-SPY Kids Act
-Safer GAMING Act
-SAFE BOTs Act
-Safe Social Media Act
-No Fentanyl on Social Media Act
-Assessing Safety Tools for Parents and Minors Act
-Promoting a Safe Internet for Minors Act
-AI Warnings And Resources for Education Act (AWARE Act)
-Kids Internet Safety Partnership Act

Other notes about the KIDS Act:
-Bill number is "H.R.7757"
-The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the court that would handle challenges
-Challenges to the KIDS Act as a whole must be made within 90 days of enactment (60 days for specific acts/findings/determinations/etc. made under the bill)
-The House seems to be going through with their version of KOSA (which will no doubt cause conflict with the Senate, who want their version)
-Explicitly forbids doing the following in the bill's name:
A: Censorship of 1st amendment protected speech
B: Weakening/Restricting of COPPA
C: Prevention of the moderation of spam, criminal activity, and security risks.
D: Weakening/Altering of Section 230
E: Breaking/Circumvention of encryption
F: Precluding the use of any form of encryption (including end-to-end encryption)
G: Requiring indefinite retention of user data
H: Requiring the affirmative collection of any
personal information with respect to age that is not
collected already in the normal course of business.

Please call your Senators and Representatives ASAP!

#Privacy #FreeSpeech #Censorship #DigitalRights #Internet #SocialMedia #AgeVerification #KOSA #KidsOnlineSafetyAct #US #UnitedStates

RE: https://sharkey.world/notes/ajdd0d377qm503lz

Privacy and Surveillance boosted

Space Queen Enthusiast » 🌐 2026-03-02
@GalacticGoddess@sharkey.world

According to @fight@mastodon.fightforthefuture.org :

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to a full committee markup on the package of "child safety" bills they discussed back in December this week (KOSA, App Store Accountability Act, SCREEN Act, etc.).

This will bring us that much closer to an extremely censored internet that will not keep kids safe. It's mass surveillance and censorship.

Please call your Senators and Representatives ASAP!

#Privacy #Censorship #FreeSpeech #DigitalRights #Internet #SocialMedia #AgeVerification #KOSA #KidsOnlineSafetyAct #US #UnitedStates

"While the [age verification] bill moved through the legislature, the OSI, FSF, Software Freedom Conservancy, and Linux Foundation all sat it out — no testimony, no public analysis, no formal opposition on the record."

California's computer age verification law is poison. The new California age verification law is a version of INGSOC's telescreen watching you. And the usual self-proclaimed software freedom fighters are AWOL as this attack on your freedom is executed.

Don't listen to apologists who claim this isn't a big deal. It is a huge deal. This law is not about protecting children. The California law is a ruse for laying the foundation and precedent for mandatory remote control of all operating systems. They are using children as a shield for their true intentions. It's called a 'subterfuge' or a 'pretext' to hide the real rationale. And in politics subterfuge is very common. These politicians don't care about your children. They care about control and information is control. Compliance with California's new law is highly corrosive to free software and deadly to personal privacy.

With the mandatory age verification API in place, legislators can later add more laws mandating retrieval of even more privacy-invasive information just to install and use any operating system. This is Big Brother's telescreen in your living room. And the Linux community is nearly silent on the matter, instead focused on artificial intelligence investment.

Where were the software freedom organizations when California was mandating installation of #spyware in all free and open source operating systems? Did they oppose it? Or did they support it by silence? The California age verification law is the greatest threat to software freedom in recent history., striking right at the root of software installation for all users. Yet (((crickets))).

Is silence really tacit support?

"While the [age verification] bill moved through the legislature, the OSI, FSF, Software Freedom Conservancy, and Linux Foundation all sat it out — no testimony, no public analysis, no formal opposition on the record."

Where were they when this mandatory spyware infrastructure was being shoved down our throats? Where were the self-proclaimed software freedom fighters? Where were the calls to action? I didn't see any.

Is silence golden ... or is gold buying silence?

Let these organizations know that you oppose California's age verification spyware law and that you expect them to rally in defense of true software freedom--freedom from government oversight of your software systems. Parents--and not the spyware state--should protect their children. The government is neither your parent nor your god nor your savior and the people should send a clear message stating that.

California, stay out of my operating system! And stay the hell away from children!

@eff@mastodon.social
@linuxfoundation@social.lfx.dev
@fsf@hostux.social
@osi@opensource.org
@conservancy@sfconservancy.org

#AgeVerification #Linux #EFF #OSI #LinuxFoundation #FSF #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Surveillance #Spyware #OpenSource #OperatingSystems #FreeSoftware #SoftwareFreedom #Panopticon #BigBrother #Government

CC: @laffer1@bsd.network @leo@twit.social @MichaelRoss@social.linux.pizza @rms@mastodon.xyz @thenewoil@mastodon.thenewoil.org @TechDesk@flipboard.social @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org

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A crowd of sillouettes of people stands in front of a giant telescreen depicting a single giant eye watching them.

Governments are pushing OS-level age checks that broadcast an “age signal” to apps, starting with laws like California’s Digital Age Assurance Act. 🧩

Marketed as child safety, but risks normalizing ID scans, expanding surveillance, and repeating Discord-style verification failures. 🛡️

🔗 https://itsfoss.com/age-verification-protection-tool-or-surveillance

#TechNews #Privacy #Government #Surveillance #BigTech #AgeVerification #Children #Safety #Data #Security #DigitalRights #Apps #OS #Regulation #Freedom #Cybersecurity #California

On every update of a #Linux machine, the integrity of the downloaded packages is guaranteed by a software that its father nearly went to jail for, hadn't he actively searched for, and used, a legal loophole.

With respect to Californian #AgeVerification law AB 1043 that wont go into effect until next year, the questions for ethically responsible software developers and maintainers should be:

• What does our moral compass say, regarding age verification being forced into Linux?
• Does this law even affect us?
• Can it be imposed on us?
• How could we resist?

Instead, I'm seeing compliance in advance of the type of people who will always just have "followed orders", later:

• Huh, what's a moral compass?
• Hey, I have some really cool ideas for an implementation!
• You can't resist laws. It's forbidden.
• It could have been much worse, so I'll enthusiastically support the lawmakers.

I've studied CS 40 years ago, and I can't remember having more than just a few of those around me. Now they are everywhere.

#privacy

It seems like the Debian Edu mailing list is talking about Linux becoming age-verification API module compliant: https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2026/03/msg00005.html

Not what I wanted to read at 5am...

#linux #debian #ageverification

"California residents are not authorized to use MidnightBSD for desktop use in the state of California effective January 1, 2027. California law CA AB1043 requires a complex age verification system implemented for operating systems with no exceptions for small open source projects. At this time, we don't have development time or a plan in place for this."

Alt...

California residents are not authorized to use MidnightBSD for desktop use in the state of California effective January 1, 2027. California law CA AB1043 requires a complex age verification system implemented for operating systems with no exceptions for small open source projects. At this time, we don't have development time or a plan in place for this.

Hundreds of academics have called on governments to halt age checks on online services, @POLITICOEurope reports. An open letter signed by 271 security and privacy experts said that it is “dangerous and socially unacceptable to introduce a large-scale access control mechanism without a clear understanding of the implications” for security, privacy and people’s freedom and autonomy. Here's more. Tell us in the comments what you think.

https://flip.it/BssYhv

#Technology #Tech #AgeVerification #SocialMedia

It's way easier for lazy politicians to enact laws to outlaw, censor, and surveil under the guise of a moral panic than to enforce antitrust regulations and interoperability and algorithmic transparency mandates...

"While social media bans may seem like a prudent measure to protect children, they are not only ineffective, they endanger both children and adults. There is little evidence that social media is driving any type of widespread mental health crisis in children. Studies have repeatedly shown the opposite. Removing anonymity from the web, which will inevitably happen when tech companies are required to identify and ban children, allows for easier government tracking and censorship of journalists, activists and whistleblowers, who rely on online anonymity.

And while some claim the laws would curb big tech’s power, only the largest tech companies have the resources to shoulder the extensive costs of age verification systems. Non-profit and indie platforms could be forced to close, consolidating big tech’s power further. Mass surveillance systems, once constructed, could also be easily leveraged by governments and bad actors.

If we want to fix the problems with social media, the place to start is through comprehensive data-privacy reform and consumer protections. Governments could also take action to break up big tech companies and prosecute them for anti-competitive behaviour. Lawmakers, who claim to care about children, could pass broader social and economic policies that we know would meaningfully improve children’s lives. Social media is a lifeline, especially for marginalised youth such as LGBTQ+ teens. Any policies that limit online access should centre on the most vulnerable children and adults.

To enact the social media bans being proposed around the world requires some system of age verification, which inherently means expanding surveillance technology."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/02/ban-children-social-media-biometic-data-surveilled

#AgeVerification #SocialMedia #Politics #Censorship #Surveillance