This headline is misleading. The California law requires that the OS store and provide the age bracket. It does not require that any verification take place.
I am not arguing that this is a good idea, but it is simply false that the law requires that Linux 'check kids' IDs before booting'.
The New York law is worse, and should be opposed, but the article only mentions it at the end - and even then, we actually don't know what the verification mechanism would be. I've heard a proposal that "age verification passes" be sold at liqour stores and porno shops, for example, who already seem to do an acceptable job of checking ID without destroying people's privacy.
Be nice to hear Linus' take on it.
> The real problem is this hodgepodge of laws; it's the growth of the surveillance state. From voting rights in the United States, facing Trump's Orwellian-named SAVE America Act, to Ring's doggie tracking system that can also be used to follow people, to Trump booting Anthropic to the side for refusing to allow its AI tools to be used for mass surveillance, privacy is on the decline.
I understand it is popular to pick on the current administration, and there are plenty of rightful reasons to, but let's not forget this has been happening way before either of Trump's terms (see: KYC laws). The only difference between then and now is that current administration has essentially taken a mask-off approach, so we get to see this discussion finally brought up by mainstream media outlets.
I don't think it's unique to America either. It's just the ebb and flow of the envelope of possibilities for central governance as technology and culture changes. FATF has managed to implement KYC worldwide, even in banana Republics at least for the peasant without connections.
I think it’s more that they have no idea that Linux exists, or headless operating systems used on servers and embedded devices. They are trying to legislate based on the experience of having an iPhone.
FOSS (and frankly all systems that don’t use walled garden commercial app stores) should be exempted from this, at a minimum.
Or maybe the likes of MS lobbied for this because it suits them.
If it’s like the Illinois one, all of tech are probably behind them, because these shift age verification away from service providers to a self-reported age bracket at the OS level.
It’s much safer than what some idiotic states are doing (like upload your photo id to services where it gets stolen).
The idea is a parent or guardian is probably setting up a device. They make a user account for their kid and specify a user age. The OS then can supply one of four age brackets to service providers.
We have got to do something about the bad powerful people!
When we are installing docker repositories on my Rockylinux installation on 100 nodes at once, should we need to manually put an age of the person who is running the script somewhere in the process? Will docker be forced to prevent me from downloading its packages if I do not transmit the age in a header?
From the article:
> These laws can, and almost certainly will, get worse. New York's proposed Senate Bill S8102A explicitly forbids self-reporting. The state Attorney General will decide how to enforce it. For example, to use Linux, you might need to submit a driver's license.
There is no limit to the power grab. The only acceptable thing to do is to dig the trenches before it gets worse.
The trenches will eventually be overwhelmed regardless. Once the government has AI and sensors, it will mandate its ubiquitous use.
For example, all cars manufactured in 2029 and onward will be required to have a built-in alcohol detector / breathalyzer and to shut down and not let you drive if they detect your blood alcohol level is too high: https://www.clear2drive.com/the-pass-act-explained/
And in 2027 — next year — new cars are required to watch where you are looking and alert authorities if you aren’t alert enough: https://www.gadgetreview.com/federal-surveillance-tech-becom...
Sure the headline is misleading.
But anyone from 10 miles away could see what's going to happen next.
Have you heard of the slippery slope? A cornerstone of American political philosophy?
Arguments like this one are why the authoritarian ratchet continues to turn unimpeded over time.