this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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They did not. They added a birthdate field to userdb which has always and will always be an entirely optional database of user information like it can include your email address. It's just a meaningless string of numbers, and if compliance is in someway forced? Forks will happen, and life will move on.
There is no online verification system, there is no tiein, if apps choose to? Fork or rebuild, but that's on the companies behind those apps. This is a nothing burger.
No need to fearmonger.
All it takes is one state demanding id verification after wifi setup to go along with the age field, to make sure the end user isn’t lying.
Stop capitulating to the real threat.
You're not wrong, however, how can you possibly say that it will always be optional?
These people are fundamentally polar opposite of the ethos of FOSS. The only reason they're not yet actively doing everything they can to outlaw this stuff completely is because most of the people making laws still have no idea it exists.
They want people to not own their own hardware, and at some point they will do everything they can to destroy Linux and FOSS. Mark my words.
This is very tinfoil hat. For every argument in one direction, there is an equal and opposite in the other. Time will tell indeed, but my bet is in the community to fork and continue the open nature. Not all are corrrupt american business
It's not just an American thing, "chat control" originated in Europe.
Sure, but we are talking age verification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act