this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
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This is fucking BAD you guys. Like, we’re being dog walked into a fucking wall here.
Major Big Tech companies (and their Fortune 500 partners, and the smaller businesses they support) are ALL going to be asking for age verification for all their SaaS “cloud” offerings and be required to do so by law.
If Linux is exempt from these laws then these services which we may all still be dependent on in some form or another will not work with Linux, since it doesn’t verify age.
You won’t be able to bank or watch Netflix on Linux anymore and it will destroy adoption just as it’s going mainstream.
The law requires the OS to ask the age and provide it to applications, not verify the age. Linux can provide the same API with a static value or "no age" signal if needed.
No, you have to panic now! They’re locking Linux users out of life for vague, unstated reasons!!
You’re right we should ignore the takeover of technology from our very hands into the paws of oligarchs who will make it unobtainable so they can build their datacenters with it and once all the consumer brands have dried up they will sell us dumb terminal tablets and we will rent all software from them in the cloud, by the month.
I’d ask you to come back and tell me how right I was in say 5-10 years but a) there’s no guarantee they will succeed and b) if they do succeed, none of us will be allowed here in the first place
Seeing this as a conspiracy against Linux users and not just patching badly written state level legislation is tin hat territory. If I’m not on the internet and using Linux in 2036 then I’m dead, and it’s not because I starved in the street after being unable to access my bank account on a Linux.
It's worth pointing out that the GDP of California makes it more like a country. It's not something that can just be ignored.
Man, this is some Fahrenheit 451 shit, where we’ll be in our “entertainment room” and books will be burned
What does this have to do with an exemption for Linux on a shitty OS-level age attestation law..?
The law is stupid for many reasons, among them being that Linux devs aren't often even located in CA or subject to its laws, and that people can just lie about their age. Corporate takeover of technology doesn't really have anything to do with this.
For now. When is it going to need some sort of Age Verification Authority stamp to run?
What if an asteroid flies into the Earth and splits it in two?
Edit: I'll add more now that I can sit down and focus.
Age attestation has existed for longer than I've been alive. Every service with an age requirement (must be 18+ to view, must be 13+ to play, must be 8+ with parent permission or 18+ to play, etc) used user attestation. The law is stupid because:
This law isn't age verification. It's just politicians being technically illiterate imbeciles.
That's why I said "Age Verification Authority stamp" versus age attestation. How long before tech giants are able to convince Congress that the only way to keep kids safe is for them to issue certificates following identity verification? It won't be long before Google phones won't let you install APKs easily without a dev certificate which requires submitting your information to Google. It's not farfetched to say. It's a wet dream for politicians that want to be able to track everyone everywhere, too. How long before motherboards can't be sold without it? How long before building your own PC isn't an option? It's already the norm for most hardware to have closed source code somewhere. That's generally accepted as something that's or worth working around except for the most dedicated of free software enthusiasts.
This is all super important shit. Blowing it off like "this is just tech illiteracy" doesn't do anyone any favors. We aren't going to be able to fight these things by laughing about it. With that mentality, an asteroid might be the only way to actually stop this shit from happening.
The trend in America is towards a conservative, puritanical, surveillance state. Flock cameras everywhere. Flock execs looking at children's gymnastics classes in my state, while they say it will help find missing children. Abusers saying it will stop abuse. My state passed a porn ban and has had heartbeat abortion bans. We're not going to get any wins by blowing this shit off and laughing about it. We're not going to beat this shit if everyone wants to laugh and think everything is a slippery slope fallacy or just a random bullshit comment.
So what exactly are you saying to do here? Because I already write to my representatives and advocate against these things. The reality is that lawmakers don't care what people want, only what's going to make them the most money.
In any case, the point I was making was that this law isn't age verification, and spending energy fighting against this when you could be battling the myriad actual age verification bills and laws is a waste of energy. In CA, there's also the 3D printer BS around scanning and blocking print jobs.
There's also the ALPR issue, data centers, and so on that have shown that representatives would rather put up a democratic facade than actually listen to their constituents.
I think you are confusing something. A tech company running proprietary code can and will ask for age verification. It does not matter if the user runs Windows, Linux, iOS, GrapheneOS.
The law here makes sure that services, which are basically also open source, are not required to do the age verification check.
So, you install Windows? Age check. You install Linux? No age check. Before even opening a browser. Then on Linux you open Netflix? Age check.
So I fundamentally saw this actually as a good news.
So the banks lose customers or do people capitulate?
Idk, do people like being able to purchase food?
does cash and card not work?
How do people get paid, @jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works ? How does a card transaction clear? When was the last time you went to a brick and mortar facility to check your balance?
I get paid with a check I either take to the bank or mail to the bank, I do think it should be required that employers offer for no additional charge payment in cash though.
Sure. Right after you provide ID.
The 2-4% of us who actually daily drive Linux will stand firm but it depends on how far the mandate goes. If you can’t access ANY financial, entertainment, or pron website without OS level age checks, how many of us will really want to do all our banking on paper?
The real plot is to stop “line go up” for Linux. They know they can’t control it, but they also know if they just kill it outright then they will make enemies.
Will normies install Linux if they can’t get on their banking website? Teenagers will say it sucks if it can no longer log into Steam. When grandma can’t verify to Gmail that she’s been an adult for the last 60 years she will want “the Windows” back.
Intelligence agencies don’t want to make big, sweeping, draconian moves; that’s how you get social unrest (ask them how they know). They’re trying to boil this frog.
"The tighter your grasp, the more systems will slip through your fingers."
Right now crypto is pretty much only for libertarians and money laundering.
Video piracy is pretty much only for people who can't stand a little bit of ads.
Porn sites just ask if you're over 18 and then show you whatever you want.
Increasing the barrier to exit allows these services to enshittify further, but also gives normal people an actual reason to switch.