Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that will
go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effects
all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xh3t7m2l2?BbAi0l4l2_0i2d3=220


~Elf

Visit our 1990's Web Site:
http://lifeseven.com/1990s


... As lacking in privacy as a goldfish.
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Elf wrote to ALL <=-

Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that will
go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effects all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xh3t7m2l2?BbAi0l4 l2_0i2d3=220

I read a bit about this. I'm not really sure how the hell it's really
going to work.

Do I think this is a good idea? I'm going to have to say no. After all
do I really want any interaction with the government from anywhere when
I decide to use my computer. Not to mention, I don't want to have to have
an external user account anywhere just to use my computer. We already
suffer enought with our cell Phone in that matter.

On the technical side of the house, are OS makers going to first ask if you are in CA or something when you install the OS or create an Account?
Or is this California's attempt to legistate for the world? Sort of like
what happend with car emission at one point. Are OS makers just going to
have OS version that can not be exported to CA or something? Is it against
the law to have a machine that was installed in AZ and taken and used in
CA. Note I have not read the law in question. These are just musing of
where things could always go? If external accounts are required? Could
someone sue based on privacy concerns? To me, there are a lot of unanswered questions.

I am going to turn this around on you. Since you posted it, What are your thoughts?



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Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that will
go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effects all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

Could care less what California does. No disrespect of anyone here that lives there.

|15-|07S|08cuz(TX|04!|08)

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On 10 Mar 2026, Scuz said the following...

Could care less what California does. No disrespect of anyone here that lives there.

I'd love to see the bump in sales that the VPN companies got when those Texas "adult verification" laws went into place last year.

... Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are.

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Re: Age Verification Law
By: Elf to ALL on Tue Mar 10 2026 03:33 pm

Howdy,

Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that will
go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effects
all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xh3t7m2l2?BbAi0l4l2 _0i 2d3=220

The link doesnt work for me.

Curious to know how age verficiation will affect linux.


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Quoting Scuz to Elf <=-

Could care less what California does. No disrespect of anyone here
that lives there.

See my response to Nblade . . . it is already beyond California.

~Elf

Visit our 1990's Web Site:
http://lifeseven.com/1990s


... As lacking in privacy as a goldfish.
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Quoting Nblade to Elf <=-

On the technical side of the house, are OS makers going to first ask
if you are in CA or something when you install the OS or create an Account? Or is this California's attempt to legistate for the world?
Sort of like what happend with car emission at one point. Are OS
makers just going to have OS version that can not be exported to CA or something? Is it against the law to have a machine that was installed
in AZ and taken and used in CA. Note I have not read the law in

I am going to turn this around on you. Since you posted it, What are
your thoughts?

Well, I think it's just a trojan horse for the government to get deeper
into our personal lives. I don't think it's a good idea at all. They
know people are just going to put in bogus birthdates/ages. So the next
step is to "improve" the verification process by scanning your drivers
license or something similar.

Until systems that hold our personal information are truly hack proof, (never) this is just a bad idea.

Now, the problem with "Hey, it's in California, it doesn't affect us
unless we live there" is that Colorado is already pushing a similar law through. Brazil already did - now that's a whole country. I am betting
the EU will like this too.

Country Status Direction
Australia Active proposals Strong push toward OSlevel
France Expanding mandates Considering OSlevel
Spain Expanding mandates Aligning with OSlevel trend
UK Strict platform laws Likely OSlevel next
New Zealand Earlystage Evaluating OSlevel
Brazil Already passed OSlevel + appstore level
United States (statelevel) California leads OSlevel spreading to
other states

Colorado is pushing OSlevel age verificationvery explicitly. In fact, Colorados SB26051 is one of the closest copies of Californias AB1043,
and it would require operating systems (including Linux distributions)
to broadcast an age bracket signal to apps.

Violations carry civil penalties of:
Up to $2,500 per minor for negligent violations
Up to $7,500 per minor for intentional violations
Enforcement depends entirely on the state Attorney Generals willingness
to bring civil actions.

Ugh. It is just not good.

~Elf

Visit our 1990's Web Site:
http://lifeseven.com/1990s


... As lacking in privacy as a goldfish.
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Quoting Deon to Elf <=-

Curious to know how age verficiation will affect linux.

Well, Linux community is certainly not happy about this at all. There
are already YouTube videos on this very topic. CEO of System76 (they
sell computers with their own, just released, COSMIC desktop on Linux)
just released a statement on this that is spot on.

From their blog:
Most System76 employees installed operating systems and created accounts
on their computer when they were under 18 Limiting a childs ability to
explore what they can do with a computer limits their future.

I am hoping he is right on this quote:
Because Linux is freely distributed and anyone can install it, the bills language could technically make the person who downloads a Linux
distribution the device manufacturer.

And this quote of his made the most sense of all:
The challenges we face are neither technical nor legal. The only
solution is to educate our children about life with digital abundance.
Throwing them into the deep end when they're 16 or 18 is too late. Its a wonderful and weird world. Yes, there are dark corners. There always
will be. We have to teach our children what to do when they encounter
them and we have to trust them.


~Elf

Visit our 1990's Web Site:
http://lifeseven.com/1990s


... The best government teaches us to govern ourselves.
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I'd love to see the bump in sales that the VPN companies got when those Texas "adult verification" laws went into place last year.

yup! they're gonna make a lot of cheese! its going to be interestinf in how this all plays out.

|15-|07S|08cuz(TX|04!|08)

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Re: Re: Age Verification Law
By: Elf to NBLADE on Tue Mar 10 2026 07:03 pm

Howdy,

Country Status Direction
Australia Active proposals Strong push toward OSlevel

Can you give me a source for this...


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Re: Re: Age Verification Law
By: Scuz to Elf on Tue Mar 10 2026 04:54 pm

Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that will
go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effects
all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

Could care less what California does. No disrespect of anyone here that

I'm wondering how this will affect people using the software anywhere though.. What I'm wondering is if OS makers will add this feature and if it will apply to anyone anywhere, or if they'll make it only apply to users of the OS who are in California (and then, it would have to have some way to determine whether someone is in California).

Nightfox
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On 11 Mar 2026, deon said the following...

Re: Age Verification Law
By: Elf to ALL on Tue Mar 10 2026 03:33 pm

Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that will go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effects all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

Curious to know how age verficiation will affect linux.

my guess is if it doesn't get completely blown out of the water (all people
who could possibly implement such a thing being like "lol f.u.") it'd be implemented in a kernel module or compile time parameter. and you can guarantee there will be instructions on how to disable that all over the
internet, probably before support is even placed in the kernel.

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Re: Re: Age Verification Law
By: fusion to deon on Tue Mar 10 2026 11:18 pm

Howdy,

my guess is if it doesn't get completely blown out of the water (all people who could possibly implement such a thing being like "lol f.u.") it'd be implemented in a kernel module or compile time parameter. and you can guarantee there will be instructions on how to disable that all over the internet, probably before support is even placed in the kernel.

Not sure how a "kernel" will validate that I was born in 1970 vs being born in 2015?


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On 10 Mar 2026, Nightfox said the following...

Re: Re: Age Verification Law
By: Scuz to Elf on Tue Mar 10 2026 04:54 pm

Okay . . . What do we all think of this AGE VERIFICATION law that wi
go into effect in California in January of 2027? It essentially effe
all operating systems, including Linux. Thoughts?

Could care less what California does. No disrespect of anyone here t

I'm wondering how this will affect people using the software anywhere though.. What I'm wondering is if OS makers will add this feature and
if it will apply to anyone anywhere, or if they'll make it only apply to users of the OS who are in California (and then, it would have to have some way to determine whether someone is in California).

i'm curious to see what apple does.. they have a surprisingly pro-privacy stance on a lot of these things.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
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On 11 Mar 2026, deon said the following...

Re: Re: Age Verification Law
By: fusion to deon on Tue Mar 10 2026 11:18 pm

Howdy,

my guess is if it doesn't get completely blown out of the water (all pe who could possibly implement such a thing being like "lol f.u.") it'd b implemented in a kernel module or compile time parameter. and you can guarantee there will be instructions on how to disable that all over th internet, probably before support is even placed in the kernel.

Not sure how a "kernel" will validate that I was born in 1970 vs being born in 2015?

i don't know how any of it's supposed to work. most people have root access to their own machines and would just disable everything related to age verification.. so i guess, what, they try to make young people download an age restricted kernel? you'd move it out of userspace in the hope a kid isn't smart enough to rebuild it?

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Re: Re: Age Verification Law
By: fusion to deon on Tue Mar 10 2026 11:38 pm

Howdy,

i don't know how any of it's supposed to work. most people have root access to their own machines and would just disable everything related to age verification.. so i guess, what, they try to make young people download an age restricted kernel? you'd move it out of userspace in the hope a kid isn't smart enough to rebuild it?

Lets say its possible that this "kernel" cannot be compromised, or worked around...

I still dont know how the kernel would know that I was born in 1970 vs 2015.

For me, there are too many assumptions:
* The PC needs to be hooked up to the internet to be functional?

* A database somewhere has to validate that I am who I say I am.

* Who maintains said database? What if the information in it is out of date or incorrect, I cannot use a PC (that maybe I just purchased)?

* Who protects said database, to keep the hackers out.

* What happens when it's compromised.

This all sounds ridiculous to me.

Next will the story be that the police will control my car so that I cannot speed in it, or my 10 year old cannot get in it a drive it... Actually that might be good, given that it is underage teens that seem to be nicking cars these days...


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