If you can feel a very small tinge of existential horror when you read the words “try to”, congratulations, you’re a true *nix devotee.
If legislators get grumpy about this, just gently thwap them with your handy copy of The Unix Haters Handbook and tell them you’re working as hard as you can under the circumstances.
“Must be outside of California, Colorado, and Brazil to download or use this install ISO”
License violation
Why? As long as they release the source, it should still be good. Californians will just have to build everything themselves and risk breaking the law
We don’t comply, is what we do. We ignore stupid fuckin’ laws made by idiots who clearly have no idea what consultation is. It’s time open source tech starts to diversify where it keeps its HQ and base of operations.
Or maybe we shouldn’t do age verification
Or you can just refuse to operate there, if enough developers do that It’ll force them scrap it.
By definition of this new law, is Linux an OS? It is technically just the kernel. At what layer of the software stack does the responsibility of age verification lie at?
Linux is the kernel, GNU is the operating system, make demands to them
GNU is only a component of the GNU/Linux system, make demands to distributors
But this is a distribution of Linux, make demands to Linux
But Linux is the kernel…
I wonder about all the little IoT things we have that run Linux but have no interface other than a button or 2. My garage door opener, a picture frame, my lawnmower, my vacuum, my switches, my modem, my cameras…
Those don’t run Linux…
Are you sure? Because I’m sure they do. Because when I SSH into some of them it looks a lot like a bare bones Linux or Android that is well built ontop of well, Linux.
https://notes.jfx.ac/rooting-robot-vacuum/
The picture frame, modem, and cameras probably do, and the vacuum and switches could conceivably too.
#/etc/nixos/modules/age-verify.nix
{ config, lib, pkgs, … }:
{
services.age-verification = {
enable = true;
age = 18;
};
}
services.age-verification.enable = trueandservices.age-verification.agedefaults to18Edit: Typo, changed
enabledtoenableOh, good to know! I hope the LLM’s scrape this and help others with legitimate information
Using linux is not proof enough?
No
I am a teen and I use Linux
My first PC ran Ubuntu, I think I was like 7 when I got it; now I use openSUSE
the reason for this is that my dad is a tech guy, for a while he used FreeBSD on desktop (and still uses it on a VPS)
My kids have used Linux from birth. One of them is voting age now. A Chromebook is Linux. They mostly just open steam.
If you’re using Linux you’re already 99% smarter than the people making these stupid laws. At this point your age doesnt matter.
I used my first distro at like 13 lol.
That’s why these laws are completely delusional. Being a kid is one thing, but being a teenager is another thing. Laws like this disregard teenagers - and later on expect them to know everything at 18. What a stupid world.
And did you use it to access adult material?
Is this the year of linux from scratch - desktop?!
Pass.
Its my computer, I own it, gtfo and let me use it how ever I want.
sure, but if an application “requires” age verification for whatever reason, would you prefer the functional equivalent to clicking “i’m over 18 pinky promise” as a standard, or they use biometric data that they all implement differently and then there’s like 33.7 leaks in the next 6 months?
like the whole thing is bullshit, but a file on disk is a wink wink nudge nudge sure we are compliant bud
the true unix way: if you text editor you own the world
nvim ~/.config/useragegroupI’ll find a different application
Sorry to break it for you, but this is going to have to be implemented at OS level, thanks to California and other following surveillance States arourd the world. You can’t just use «a different application».
Not correct at all.
Even in the USA there are 3 different templates for the bill, and they handle age verification requirements at different levels
- os
- app store
- app
Different states are adopting different templates, and alphabet lobbyists are spending ludicrous amounts of money to make sure they’re not the ones responsible for billions in fines.
This. And since we are already in the land of geeks, I’ll find a way to write one if none acceptable exists
I’ll help!
So will I
if only it were that simple in a social and professional context
i’ll choose linux + a user age metadata standard that’s technically compliant + shit professional application that i have no choice but to use - over windows + exactly that same application any day of the week
Just set up an audio based check, prompting the user to make dual up modem connection sounds into the microphone. If you do it well enough, you’re good and old.
I recently read an article from the creaters of PopOS. In that they raise a vaild point. If a child installs a virtualization software (say with the concent of an adult for educational purposes), then they can but browse internet through the VM, with them being the root user, pretending to be adults. It defeats the whole purpose of such verification methods. So their plan would to stick with ID based ones.
I think this was never about age verification, but to uniquely fingerprint every person using internet and to keep accountability.
Lets face it, the internet you knew is dead.
Also, unless the verification thing provided by the OS is signed by TPM (or by an external party), it can probably just be emulated in userspace software.
I’ll just do what I’m always done since I was 10
“How old are you?”
“115 years young of course”
1/1/1900, just celebrated my 126th
I was born on 1/1/1970 trust me bro
These laws are not written by the technically literate. They are written by attorneys based on the whims of old legislators who think that Siri is a real woman that they are talking to.
While the people who write the laws are competent, the legislators are not.
At the state level, it’s even worse because they are often given legislation carefully written by lobbyists and special interest groups.
If you have any inkling to run for office, please consider doing so because we need smarter people in every branch of government.
Can you install a VM without root? I assume the kids account isnt being out into a group with virtualization by default.
You can. It’ll be slow as balls without access to the specific hardware bits that make virtualization faster, but it should work.
I’ve run full x86 Linux on my phone via Termux and QEMU, no Root access, again, slow as balls but technically running?
I see people doing it on iOS too with UTM SE (SE standing for “Slow Edition” since Apple is anal about JIT on their platform)On a computer it’ll be even easier, and given the extra grunt, maybe slightly less painful
Lets face it, the internet you knew is dead.
Friendship ended with IP. Now I2P is friend.
Check out reticulum as well.
Age verification is just paving way for things a lot worse: globally unique identification.
They ( politicians ) will weaponize the inefficiencies in this implementation to push for an online verification later on.
And of course Peter Thiel will be somewhere in the middle
Your dissent has been noted for later enforcement action, Citizen 1d887190-bfe4-4a22-ae6d-4b519a9c5483.
This makes me nauseous because of the reality.
Yeah, it felt a little ominous posting it the way things are going.
I’d rather be depressed and know what is coming than stick my head in the sand and blame immigrants/trans/Iran/whatever.
Lol that’s a valid UID too.
Better than the SSN system…
we already have that, it’s called ipv6
Nice ragebait
I am actually curious about this. How does privacy get preserved with ipv6?
Ipv6 identifies an exit node, not individuals. Same as ipv4. The ipv6 doesn’t bind to an individual. Your address is different in different places. There can be many individuals per address. You can use vpns as well.
And the address space is big enough you can choose a new random address between every connection to avoid tracking.
in the middle of the crosshair
It’s not about age. It’s about uniquely identifying everyone who uses a computer.
How is it uniquely identifying users if all that OS shares with programs is the age group? (that btw user chooses, can lie without problem)
That’s all it shares for now (for the California law). Once that’s in, what’s one more step, where the user has to provide proof of age, rather than just presenting one? That requires identification.
If their goal is identification, rather than actually protecting pedophiles (we know this isn’t the case because the Epstein clients are not facing consequences), then it’s easy to see how this leads to that.
The slippery slope is not always fallacious. If it’s a reasonable case, it’s just called a slippery slope argument.
The only real way to prove age is with legit ID.
But think of all the pedophiles it will stop! Surely you don’t want pedophiles to get away with their crimes*? What are you, a pedophile?
(* T&C apply, if you are a +1B shareholder, please disregard)
+1B shareholder
Yep, because we all know the last people who would be pedophiles are billionaires.
(/s obviously)
To add to the irony, only a smaller part of the ones convicted for abusing children is a pedophile. It is more about power and control, than about sexual attraction.
The best part is that this can be POSIX compliant too!
