Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

MarkW · 2026-03-09 19:08:06

Because this is going to affect Debian and everything upstream of it (including BL)

hhh · 2026-03-09 19:51:54

^ Only if you live in California, and no way they can enforce this on Linux. Not yet, but it is coming.

PackRat · 2026-03-10 00:09:32

hhh wrote:

^ Only if you live in California, and no way they can enforce this on Linux. Not yet, but it is coming.

Texas and Utah have something similar. Colorado, Illinois, and New York are following the California path.

MidnightBSD ha already amended their license in the readme file:

Residents of any countries, states or territories that require age verification
for operating systems, are not authorized to use MidnightBSD. This list currently includes
Brazil, effective March 17, 2026, California, effective January 1, 2027, and
will include Colorado, Illinois and New York provided they pass their currently
proposed legislation. We urge users to write their representatives to get
these laws repealed or replaced.

PackRat · 2026-03-10 00:11:15

MarkW wrote:

Because this is going to affect Debian and everything upstream of it (including BL)

Enter a fake age - April 1, 2000 - during install.

Any idea how CA plans to enforce this?

WizardofCOR · 2026-03-10 04:00:44

Reddit is having a field day on this slippery slope legislation:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments … state_age/

And I agree, it seems pretty unenforceable and/or easy to bypass. Unless of course they somehow enforce an online activation verification in/after the setup routine. But then there's also the question of Live OS's (Knoppix, Tails, etc.) and how this could even (inadvertently) spur underground development of "pirate" OS's.

"Can't stop the signal, Mal..."

But yeah, the "surveillance state" direction of all this is a bit worrying, though.
Will be interesting to watch, certainly.

trinidad · 2026-03-10 13:10:34

This is currently unenforcable in an active sense, that is pursuable in any technical way on user communities. However it gives prosecutors another bit of leverage after an arrest when pursuing porn vendors, child abuse and neglect perps, etc. When it comes to technical legislation one hand always bites the other. A computer is inanimate and therefore not protected by any civil rights and whatever is on it is absolutely subject to scrutiny from any source. Trying to wrap up modern technical devices and usages in civil rights issues is a straw man legally. So is the law itself except when applied contingently after an arrest.
TC

Last edited by trinidad (2026-03-10 13:12:00)

greenjeans · 2026-03-10 15:01:47

WizardofCOR wrote:

"Can't stop the signal, Mal..."
.

Exactly what I said, my wife too when she heard the news. Might be time for our yearly re-watch of that movie.

Multiple firestorms over this on forums and all over youtube. Concensus is it won't pass the sniff test in court. The Brazil thing is time-sensitive going into effect in a week, but I e-mailed Sourceforge about what they might or might not do about Brazil as all my projects are hosted there and in a nutshell they said:
1. Sourceforge does not give legal advice so this is not that.
2. They do not believe they are compelled by the Brazil law, and nothing is changing on their end.
3. They do not have any update on the California law, they think it's likely later this year that the Cali AG will provide more guidance.

But i'm seeing now chatter that it may get built-in at the kernel level, which means no opting out...unless of course you can build your own.

dhalgren · 2026-03-10 20:47:18

This is the first I have heard about this, but I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, though it is a good argument for keeping copies of old versions of an OS, just in case, and not upgrading it.

As it is, I know an academic who uses AI to get a precis of academic papers he is thinking about reading (like me, he doesn't trust abstracts). The AI claimed the paper offended community standards, informed microsoft and his windows installation was rendered inoperable by microsoft. He sorted it out eventually, but it was a giant faff. None the less, I can imagine something similar happening with age verification for OSs.

As it is, I also know people who keep all their writing on encrypted USBs for fear of intrusion, and others who use very old versions of Debian and windows, because that is all they need, though they may be well stuffed if they need to replace their computers.

As for those who use encrypted USBs, I understand that well: back about 20--25 years ago I was a windows user using what I think was Zonealarm. At the time I had a job writing for a company in New Mexico, and in a phone conversation my employer used trigger words that we intercepted by "The Five Eyes" and US military intelligence hacked me. I only know because they made a mistake (I presume) and deleted all my files relating to that company instead of merely copying them. I only know it was military intelligence because their IP address was recorded and I looked it up.

Ah well, the signs that we are going to be totally surveilled have been present for quite a while, and I believe they began with George Orwell.

Last edited by dhalgren (2026-03-10 20:59:18)

brontosaurusrex · 2026-03-11 10:01:20

I'd think the age verification could maybe be applied to the web browser 'stack', but to the OS? What could be thinking behind that?

vic · 2026-03-11 20:27:46

Here are some quite interesting reading about it.

https://agelesslinux.org/index.html

PackRat · 2026-03-11 22:39:33

Thanks.
Interesting read.

WizardofCOR · Today 04:23:07

It's been lighting up LinkedIn lately, that's for sure.
One thing that's predominantly (and repeatedly) been discussed is an upcoming surge in amateur development of "pirate OS's" - we'll see how that goes.
If anything, I'm thinking that the only "enforceable" option might be an online activation sequence - yet I'm also expecting any sort of online validation to be cracked within a week. And what about offline options?
It's pretty clear that lawmakers haven't thought this through (at all)
And when jumping VPN becomes realized, the entire game's gonna change anyway.

hhh · Today 15:00:39

Too long, didn't read for me, but I have my tinfoil hat ready. A sombrero, she's a beaut!

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments … ts_and_45/

#1 2026-03-09 19:08:06

Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#2 2026-03-09 19:51:54

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#3 2026-03-10 00:09:32

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#4 2026-03-10 00:11:15

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#5 2026-03-10 04:00:44

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#6 2026-03-10 13:10:34

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#7 2026-03-10 15:01:47

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#8 2026-03-10 20:47:18

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#9 2026-03-11 10:01:20

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#10 2026-03-11 20:27:46

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#11 2026-03-11 22:39:33

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#12 Today 04:23:07

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

#13 Today 15:00:39

Re: Do You Have An (Age Verified) Loicence For That OS?

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