- cross-posted to:
- technology
- cross-posted to:
- technology
From the press release [my emphasis]:
Require operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages when setting up a new device, rather than relying on self-reported ages.
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/25834609
The U.S. has been quietly building up a set of state-level laws that push operating system providers into the age verification plague.
California’s AB 1043, signed in October 2025, requires OS providers to collect age data at account setup and pipe it to apps through a real-time API. It kicks in on January 1, 2027.
Colorado is working on something nearly identical. SB26-051 (which we covered when it was still a proposal) passed the state Senate 28-7 on March 3, 2026, and is now waiting on a House vote to become law there too.
However, these are just state-level laws. A new federal bill, H.R.8250, introduced on April 13, 2026, by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, with Rep. Elise M. Stefanik signing on as cosponsor, has us intrigued.
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There is no “age verification” possible, only identity verification that reveals your age. Once OSes have kill switches installed that operate based on your identity, it’s a pretty straight line to enforcing that only the “right people” have access to computers.
All programmers work for California now. They pass a stupid law, and we get to work on it. I guess this will just move our employer up the chain.
Every day, the words “Violent Uprising” sound a lot less problematic in my ears.
We surely need to send protest emails and letters to legislators and government representatives – as citizens did in EU for the “chat control” proposals – and organize protest marches, strikes, and so on.
But yes, if the regime behaves more and more like a Russian state, rather than a democracy, and doesn’t care about citizens’ protests, then “violent uprising” becomes almost a moral imperative. “Democracy” means “government by the people”, and it’s we people who must make sure no one takes the government out of our hands; nobody else can do that for us.
Unfortunately, the majority will go “nothing to hide” and move on. Only when the effects hit will they notice.
Besides obviously being Meta pushing for these, people should start paying attention to the politicians pushing them.
We should not forget these names.
To take the voice of the other side
Age verification is a thing that’s becoming more important
It’s expensive for all the companies if they have to do age verification, apple and Microsoft are huge so they can easily absorb the cost, so if we make those companies do it, it takes the load off the other companies
It’s not that they’re open source hostile, it’s that they’re open source blind. I think they’re also using corporate versions of windows so they don’t get the worst of it, so they’re not incentivised to find alternatives
Linux is going to have a lot of trouble funding ID checks in the handful of jurisdictions where it’s necessary
I wonder if Linux should be presented as business software (since most Linux installations are servers) that should not be bound by that law, what does a server care about the age of the worker who set it up or the company that owns it
The fundamental problem is that age verification is bullshit. So let’s not normalize it. It must be fought, on all fronts, including the FOSS front.
Welp. It’s back to zines and pirate radio.
What is to stop everyone from lying? I would enter 1/1/1900 if ever forced to.
The crucial point in this new press release is the requirement for “operating system developers like Apple and Google to verify users’ ages when setting up a new device, rather than relying on self-reported ages.”
I hope they meant “verify user age by entering it at account setup” instead of “the user reports their age when they open a website”, like the california law. Still stupid to write it like this, but at least a little bit less bad.
That’s not “verified” you’d need to upload some sort of government ID like you need to for porn inant western countries now.
While for porn you can just use a VPN, if this bill requires ot at device level it will be harder to get around.
As a European, would it be enough for me to use a distribution that is not from the US? So they would not have to implement age verification at operating system level. All the service (such as Flatpak in example) would still work without verification, right? Can I escape the US law as a European user?
Possibly. That’s up to your distro. However, consider that EU as well is starting to speak about age verification. It’s quite clear that the whole “West” aspires to be more like Russia and China.
That’s about the applications, not on operating system level.
if it worked like that an age field wouldn’t be in systemd for everyone everywhere because of the california law having passed
it /shouldn’t/ work like that, but not enough people and projects seem willing to hold their ground atm
