I guess, California is killing Windows without knowing.
Suddenly, Android and Chromebook become Linux. Maybe Apple will become Unix again.
Read the article. The amendment says nothing about Linux. It talks about open source where the user has a license to modify and redistribute. So unless Google makes android fully open source they will still be included.
Yes, I know AOSP is open source. But they are also talking about how steam os wouldn’t be exempt despite it being arch based. Due to the proprietary portions.
Not as long as they’re bending the knee to Trump
Wild they still play the “think of the children” card while ignoring the Epstein files.
Oh they’re still thinking about them.
For a moment I freaked out that they were only gonna exclude Linux and not open source in general but it seems they exclude based on the license based on this article which is a good thing. The dozens of OpenBSD and FreeBSD users may rest safely now
Doesn’t matter. The thin edge of the wedge is going to get in. In 5 years Linux will be forced to comply.
Enforcing it on android/apple/windows/steamos/chromeos is still problem tho.
Tho I do wonder how they handle chromeos. Do each student have to put their age every year?
SteamOS, ChromeOS and Android are Linux basedoperating systems though. Especially SteamOS is literally just an arch fork with steam preinstalled.
They are talking about how steamos might still be included. Due to the proprietary portions. I’d assume android would fall under that as well.
My steam account is old enough to legally drink. Wonder if that’ll factor in.
That doesn’t prove anything. There’s no proof that the person currently using it is the same person as the person who created the account.
By the way, you might also notice this argument also works against age verification systems where the user’s age is verified only once. Unless you intend to check their identity every single time they log in.
Age verification is just a ham-fisted way for the state to try to take over a role that should be exercised by parents. Parental controls exist, people!
Idk about you but my system is always a little nervous.
Wao, I am gladly surprised by this. I would have never thought this would be possible, yet here we are.
California software companies have serious lobbying power.
I mean… yeah. OpenAI is a California software company and it’s the biggest lobbying force behind the age verification bills.
The proposed amendment specifically states: “Operating system provider” does not mean a person or entity that distributes an operating system or application under license terms that permit a recipient to copy, redistribute, and modify the software.
That’s one way to encourage people to move to open source software
Imagine if that made MicroSlop and Apple open-source Windows and Mac OS. That would be a wild world.
It doesn’t even makes to collect age on any OS unless the OS is PornOS or something. What exactly is the threat? What exactly does verification do?
IIRC, they want to have browsers automatically report age, and have OSes restrict access to software (like browsers that don’t do that) based on age as well.
I believe the “goal” is to restrict access to information to younger persons. Porn is the threat they most often wave around, but many advocates also want to restrict access to social media, and apps that have in-app purchases, etc.
Absolutely the law is still dumb, and people that use FOSS OSes should still fight it. But with this change, as least you won’t have to compile your own version of systemd (and NOT distribute it) to escape the insanity.
I bet this will be as easy to circumvent as changing the user agent of your browser and most developers outside of the US wont even bother to introduce age verification for a small fraction of their users.
Age verification laws are cropping up in far more jurisdictions than California (which is already quite large both in population and economically).
Anti-circumvention laws already exist. If OSes and browsers do start reporting ages, you can expect Apple, Google, and Microsoft to use the DMCA to (at least) shift liability (potentially criminal liability) onto users that adjust their browser to report an inaccurate age.
If this proposed law the “end of the world”? No. But, it is yet another contribution to both tech and government panopticons and should be resisted, even WITH a POSS carve-out.
As several people I follow try to remind me: “Users of non-FOSS software deserve privacy and safety, too.”
Common Linux double u.
How about the government focus on taking rights away from people who have actually harmed kids, like I don’t know, maybe a giant pedophile ring in plain sight? Instead the focus on taking rights from everyone because someone, sometime, in the future harm a child.
The government was paid by Meta… They are just doing what they were told to do
its not even about “protecting the innocent” is about snooping on potential dissidents/ threats to the status quo of the govt.
The whole digital footprint thing is really having me dawn a tinfoil hat. I was doing Uber a few days ago, and listening to Pandora. I spoke very limited, and brief, Spanish to two riders and I immediately started getting full on español ads on Pandora! Like I don’t speak fluent Spanish! Your ad budget is legit getting wasted.
But I am a little flattered thinking the algorithm thinks I do.
Dunno where I was going with this, but I’m excited to see Linux growing, and hope it gets mainstream enough that a year old unlocked phone has a fork.
Because it’s not about protecting children, obviously.
When someone with certain personality problems tells blatant lies, they are really only trying to convince themselves. You exist only as an introject inside their minds, you are not real to them, it does not matter if you don’t believe them because it doesn’t need to make sense to you.
It’s being exempt because the Government can’t enforce this requirement on FOSS. Linux isn’t managed by a corporation and I don’t think people realize this yet.
I would pay money to hear Linus on the phone with these self-important assholes.
we want you to force user verification in all Linux.
yeah, fuck you.
…
Give homie some credit, I think he would at least ask “why?” first. Then also wish them “good luck!” on enforcing it.
You can’t force it on any Linux distro, but on everybody who has to give a shit about compliance.
Red Hat is the biggest power on Linux.
I mean they could force big corpo to not allow anyone who can’t verify age to use their services.
This is sponsored by meta to push the age requirement tracking onto the os rather than Facebook directly to avoid liability when under age kids access harmful content
An unverified age bracket in the OS that provides that to web services is the correct way to do it (a parent setting up a computer or account for a kid checks one box and suddenly google safe search, etc, everyone else doesn’t check the box, done).
I suspect meta is hoping to get better unique account to human mapping in their surveillance machine.
Which is insane, as the OS doesn’t have any way to authoritatively measure the user’s age and so they have to be ‘honor system’ where the age is whatever the user says the age is, or require some online account with identity validation, which is what facebook tries to do anyway.
How about they spend their time revamping parental controls instead? The age gate stuff is clear about user data collection and nothing else.
Because they don’t give a single fuck about the kids, unless they’re pedos fucking kids, then they give all the fucks.
Exactly. Age control is obviously needed I am so glad I’m not a kid that has to navigate the social algorithms of our time.
That said this is obviously a law being pushed by the technofascist companies like meta and their goal is always more power, in this case more data. It’s crazy how many law makers just do what they are told. they are doing the same with trying to lock down 3Dprinters.
More local control in operating systems as well as parental controls in platforms like YouTube where they could have full control to turn off the algorithm, maybe even a browser api where you need admin to enable adult mode. But based on everything I’ve seem from companies like google and meta they don’t care in the slightest about the children as long as they make their bag
Easing local control is what that law was about (and it did think far enough to only include user facing). If there wasn’t a global tendency to move towards surveillance and identity verification I’d be all for it. As it is I have some reservations about slippery slope.
The law doesn’t require identity verification. It requires the OS to provide the age group of the user (set at install) to programs running on the OS. Something that, if adopted widely, would immensely help with allowing parents to control access (i.e. if they decide their kid should be able to see everything, just put them in ths age group for that, similarly they could also do that and manage it the same way as they would now. Or if they’re lazy as many parents sadly are, there is at least some enforcement of age control that someone thought about, without giving up any identifying info beyond an age group). Yes it could be circumvented somewhat easily, but as far as I see it that’s always a feature. A child being exposed to something accidentally has very different implications than actively trying to access it.
I’m a DevOps engineer and my employer runs a lot of Linux instances in AWS. I’d love for these politicians to explain to me how age verification of Linux web servers should work for auto-scaling environments where instances are spun up and terminated automatically based on traffic volume. I’d also like to know if I should be using the age of our CEO, the age of our company (thanks to Citizens United), or something else.
It’s the 20s version of “the internet is a series of tubes”. They couldn’t explain it if they wanted to, but all they care about is that the bribes are still spending.
Obviously corporations just become exempt from the law. And any laws, why* not.
I’d like to see them pair a bluetooth headset to a phone.
How old is that headset ?
If it’s over 18 years old, does it automatically pass age verification
only 18 years or younger headphones qualify for consideration.
13*
These are politicians, after all.
Honestly I wonder if this is why the amendment is being suggested. AI products in particular are likely to be interacting with a lot of websites that will be required to verify ages, and I’m sure California in particular is loath to make waves that might throw that revenue stream into doubt.
Obviously uhhhh uhhhhhhh put your ID in a GitHub secret and uhhhhhh social security number and uhhhhhh
I’d love for these politicians to explain to me how age verification of Linux web servers should work for auto-scaling environments where instances are spun up and terminated automatically based on traffic volume.
Come on, can’t be that tedious. What could it be 200-300 instances tops per day? My kid sister does that many selfies.
Also, is each docker container a “computer” of its own? After all, I could use different distro base images!
You are required to have age verification. We licence our age verification on an instance basis. An instance is defined as whatever makes us the most money, or alternatively causes you the most pain.
You know. A worst case scenario.
politicians are far to stupid to know any of that. The only computer they know is their phone and maybe a laptop.
Yeah, I don’t even know what you’re talking about, and that makes me extra certain that politicians definitely don’t know what you’re talking about. It is nice to see them perhaps taking into account expert opinions on this subject, but 1 for 100 doesn’t make for a good average.
They’ll listen to the lobbyists peddling them with hookers and blow (and promises of future non-executive board memberships and and millionaire speech circuit fees).
That’s all the expertise they care about.
The govt…. Uhhh…. Finds a way (to fuck shit up)
Good points, and well put!
