Of course, this is not only about Ubuntu, Fedora, or Linux Mint, as it would apply to all GNU/Linux distributions, desktop environments, and application hubs lke Flathub or Snap Store, which will have to comply with the upcoming law in the near future in some way, especially since similar laws have already been proposed in other US states, including New York and Colorado.
Age declaration, not verification. I know I’m in the minority here, but I don’t understand what the big uproar is. All it is is a way for mom and dad to mark an account as under aged.
If this didn’t happen we would keep seeing more mandatory ID uploads and facial scanning. This is probably the best outcome we can hope for. They get to protect the children and we can keep using the internet.
The uproar is the same uproar that has always existed when government overreach threatens privacy. The question should never be, “why are you fighting this?” the question is, “why is this needed?” And the answer is that it is not. It’s yet another mnaufactured moral panic which is being pushed by the folks who want to destroy privacy. Some want that destruction for the privacy so that they can spy on and control others, the rest are dimwitted fools who believe that they can give up privacy to obtain some small measure of security. They are wrong and in the end will have neither privacy nor security.
I credit Stallman with correctly being a zealot unwilling to give an inch on this topic for the last 30+ years. If he’d been the tiniest bit “realistic”, we wouldn’t have Linux or GNU coreutils or ad-free browsers.
Here’s the deal: I paid for this computer, it is mine. I can make its logic gates do anything I want (back then there was no Internet so it couldn’t reach out and hack/defraud someone else)
No matter what, it will be trivial to fork either Fedora installer or whatever to remove this. And because it’s files that are freely given away, it’s a lot harder to legally restrict than other consumer software.
No, age verification is not in inevitability. Neither is panopticon surveillance. We have the defensive shields.
I’m feeling the need to go a little more purist about open source these days. Every closed-source program lets you down in the end.
Day 1: Age declaration laws.
Then the public gets used to it. It becomes the norm.
Day 30: Age verification digital ID laws.
“But I don’t have anything to hide!”
Society gets used to it.
Day 60: Always on live digital monitoring stream
“Well I’M not doing anything wrong, and it’s to protect children”
Day 90: Always live camera video/audio feed inside your house.
“Well I don’t have anything to hide! And it’s to help find child predators.”
Ect ect ect ect ect.
The thing to remember here is, they wouldn’t bypass child protection COPPA laws to install age verification if it really was meant to protect children.
Also, YOU don’t get to decide if you have nothing to worry about. YOU don’t get to decide if you’ve done nothing wrong. That’s for the fascists to decide. You won’t know until it’s too late.
See this is what we call the slippery slope argument. If things like that happen I will be up in arms with all of you. That’s not what is happening though.
What does your bridge inventory look like? I’d like to go over some proposals.
That is absolutely what has BEEN happening!
All throughout the 2010s there was a battle for net neutrality. We lost that fight.
Then they put in the scanners for TSA that take full body nude photos whenever you fly. You can “opt out”, but they intentionally make it a hassle, and make it feel like YOU’RE the asshole for not wanting yourprivacy invaded like that.
Then all the appliances in your home started getting smart, so the internet was slowly becoming less of a luxery, and more of a requirement. Let an entire generation grow up without knowing a world without internet.
Then comes the tracking. We’re entering this phase now.
And eventually you’ll be isolated from society if you don’t consent to being tracked.
I have never had a facebook account. Yet facebook knows my name, my face, my phone number, my address. All of this was never consented by me. You know who did consent to it? My mom. She put me in her contacts list on her phone. She willingly entered all that info, uploaded a photo, and saved it to her phones contacts. Then she downloaded the facebook app. Which promptly asked her if she’d like to import her contacts list into her facebook contacts.
And it’s true that officially facebook isn’t technically part of the government. However, these mega corporations are all in bed with the government. Whatever they want, under this corrupt fascist government, it’s theirs for the taking. Nothing a little bribe can’t solve.
And now you got ICE out on the streets, downloading databases of who they want to oppress, where they live, what they look like.
It’s ALL connected. You are a frog slowly boiling. You don’t think the water is hot because you keep getting used to the tempature increases.
There is a difference between a theoretical slippery slope and a logical path to an obvious goal.
Yeah this is a way better alternative and no more invasive than a “I’m over 18” checkbox, it’s just done once on a OS user account rather than on every site.
I think all the age verification bullshit happening elsewhere is making people jump to angry conclusions rather than actually read the law.
Thanks but i don’t need a fridge to question my age if i want to take beer out.
(not that you’d catch me eith a smart fridge in the first place, i am not insane)
Opinions are just vibes based. Age checks are bad vibes, so everyone hates anything to do with them no matter what.
The verbiage appears intentionally vague in the case of the Colorado law. It extends to literally anything with an OS, and the incentive for compliance is being allowed to spy on minors again.