California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt
www.tomshardware.com
AB 1856 excludes open-source operating systems from the upcoming Digital Age Assurance Act.

Let’s hope other states follow suit…

  • danielfm123@lemmy.zipBanned from community
    1·
    25 days ago

    A game I payed long ago in my mobile requested me last week age verification.

    Game lost…

  • PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world
    1·
    26 days ago

    My tinfoil hat is telling me they’ll do this to make an outlaw of Linux and block it from services and sites. I hope my hat is wrong.

    • Isthisreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      25 days ago

      Keep that tinfoil hat close, I have a feeling Digital identification laws and ReadID technologies are actually moving the internet away from user anonymity, enabling a framework where users can be tied to real-world identities and easily sanctioned.

      Make a post on the internet that someone objects to? boom, you just lost access to all your bank accounts.

      I mean people connected to Peter Thiel are already bragging how they would love to do that

    • Alaknár@sopuli.xyz
      0·
      25 days ago

      It’s physically impossible to “outlaw Linux”. That would mean outlawing the entirety of “The Cloud™”.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    1·
    25 days ago

    Sensible laws? That’s not the world I grew up in. What the hell is happening.

    Punish users. That’s the only way they’ll learn.

    • Alaknár@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1·
      25 days ago

      Linux users are incredible in their belief that issues of privacy, security, or data autonomy will push the masses away from what they’re used to (OSX/Windows, Facebook/Reddit, etc) and towards better options (Linux, Lemmy, Mastodon, etc)

      No, mate, absolutely nothing is gonna happen to Windows. It’s gonna be perfectly fine. If we’re lucky, there will be a 1-3% dip in user base towards Linux, but there’s exactly 0% chance for a mass exodus that would make the upper management stop and think for a second.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    26 days ago

    Wait… So if Linux doesn’t have the api (sorry, the “signal” 🙄) how will sites that require it respond? What does it mean to be “exempt” - every user is considered to be an adult?

      • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
        1·
        26 days ago

        Ehhh, honestly I’m thinking it’s more likely they’ll block you. That’s how these things tend to go in this age.

        Kind of like how more and more of the Internet just outright blocks vpns.

        • djdarren@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          26 days ago

          This is my growing experience of using GrapheneOS.

          Mostly everything works just fine. But certain apps don’t, because they’ve made a choice to use Play store integrity. And there are more and more of them, including the UK government ID app. So I can’t use my phone to verify my identity because I use a version of Android that’s more secure than Google’s.

          And yeah, I can see it going this way with Linux. If you can’t be verified using macOS, Windows, or ChromeOS (or whatever the new thing is) tools, then you become a second class digital citizen.