This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Lmao does the register really cite Reddit as a source? it was a cesspool off missinformation on the CA bill, I doubt it's any better on the CO one.
Why not link to the actual bill like it does for other states?
It's also wildly disingenuous to lump the bills that require verification and those that just require an OS store an unverified age and return it, but that's what I'd expect from reddit.
There's still valid concern about this being a foot in the door tactic. Once an OS complies with this request what will the next one be? Why should this even be allowed?
Either way though, the reddit citation is a bit unnerving.
I don't want either. And it's a slippery slope to the next stage, and the next. Eventually we will have no control over what we own and zero privacy.
I’m so glad someone who can fight it is fighting it. They usually listen to companies more than people.
I’m saddened Democrats are pushing this before the midterms. They’re going to fumble this if they keep on this track.
California, Colorado and New York now.
Honestly is getting insane.
Given how many states are pushing legislation like this and how quickly they're doing it, there's effectively no way to push back against it...
I do hope that they stop this bullshit though.
Sometimes it freaks me out if I put my tinfoil hat on and start thinking that both sides are working together to move toward fascism.
Its almost like the democrats are also a right wing party. Left of far right has never meant left wing in this country. Hence the ratchet effect
Considering that a lot of the states doing this are blue, it would be understandable why one might think this.
Whats up with these sudden age check laws being introduced everywhere?
Governments wanting to identify and regulate speech under the guise of protecting children
It’s part of the tech bro mass surveillance oligarchs and Israel tightening the freedom of speech noose worldwide
Hit everything at once, cause confusion and anger, distract from Epstein files and rising prices.
Facebook is lobbying them so they don't have to do age checks on Instagram and can maximize the revenue
it's a checkmark on a politicians career without them having to do anything real
there's many issues politicians will rally under if they see that it's minimal work + huge virtue signaling potential (think of the children ! )
Thank you System76.
The whole law is dumb. They need to create a standard universal method first. So when does this protection get applied? Can't somebody just boot a thumb drive?
Can't somebody just boot a thumb drive?
This has gotten me especially curious about Tails.
It’s a solution that seems so divorced from reality… I don’t quite understand how the expectation is reasonable, unless the goal is to force complaints to surface from the OS developers so that they can refine future versions of the law with more accuracy.
Because Linux distributions can be created free-willy. Just check out Linux From Scratch, Gentoo, etc. Same with live boot from USB, same with stripped down server distros like Alpine — you have the same issue.
Linux isn’t a product in the same way that other products can be regulated. It would make more sense if they defined clearly who this law actually targets, being something that is actually enforceable; something like this:
That at least makes some sense. In a way, it only targets PC distributors and porn distributors. The end user could still do whatever they want, but porn distributors may not serve content to them without the functionality described.
Because Linux distributions can be created free-willy. Just check out Linux From Scratch, Gentoo, etc. Same with live boot from USB, same with stripped down server distros like Alpine — you have the same issue.
I don't want to be "that person", but here's how it could play out...
The "free-willy" distros would not fulfill the "trust" requirements needed to pass the "certification process". You can still use them, but think of it like running custom firmware on your cellphone: you're not going to be able to access your bank, but somethings will still work.
Larger distros (Red Hat, Ubuntu, etc) would pay to pass the "certification process", but this would come by making certain concessions:
Then with theses concessions, your PC world be deemed "reliable" to perform the necessary age verification and have this confirmation passed through your browser to your favor porn site.
Damn, that sounds like gunk. I’ve been so exciting about the day and age when phones reach the same level of customizability as a PC. Little did I know, they want to phoneify the PCs instead.
Yeah, I have wanted my phone to be more like a computer for a long time, not the other way around! This timeline sucks.
when major websites start doing this weird browser or os based signature verification, tails isn't going to work very well on them anymore. using the internet without your signature will probably be about as fun as it is to browse with tor right now
There are SOOOOOO many ways to implement age verification checks. And this is one of the worst. What is wrong with people
It's because the goal is surveillance
But who the fuck is actually introducing these bills? Which entity/organisation/individual/company are they getting the ideas from?
There is a (conspiracy) theory that Meta lobbies this shit in order to avoid having to verify the users' age and not being culpable in case a minor uses their service.
An "I am an adult" checkbox in your OS that gets propagated out is probably the most privacy centric way to lock down kid accounts right?
They want to require IDs which requires validation, which requires a central authority. Any websites you hit that require the check will request it from the OS which will need to verify with central authority. So they'll know what websites your hitting.
Yup, the REAL goal here is to get an ID associated with an IP address to remove your anonymity from the web.
People responding to this are right about their actual intentions, but yeah. I think if you wanted to go about doing this the right way it would be an "I'm an adult" or a "this device is primarily used by a child" checkmark that could be locked down behind an administrative password.
That's it. That’s all you really need if your intention was actually just makeing sure kids couldn't wander into a part of the internet not made for them. Everything else, verification, that's just surveillance bullshit being bolted on top.
Fucking raise hell and cause chaos. Age checks are bullshit. All while our government is filled with corruption and pedophiles. Maybe stop listening to such an immoral entity.
I really don't understand what the value they see in putting age checks on operating systems. Like where is this coming from? Who whispered in their ear that OS age checks are something that need to be done?
From what I can tell, the 'age' part is misdirection. They want to restrict computer use to the "good" people, to make it "safer".
Using age restrictions first allows legislation to be passed "for the children" using the idea of potential harm to theoretical children. However, in practice, legislators expect the implementation of the age check to be capable of checking anything else they want to about your identity, as a prerequisite for access. Probably using a combination of face scans and ID scans.
Palantir
They have unique digital fingerprints for everyone already pretty much, but they are not linked to official government IDs so there is still uncertainty I think over identification.
This makes everyone's digital fingerprint linked on a government ID. Voila, now every person in America is known by Palantir and the government at all times (more or less). Great for genocide and targeting your political opponents and voters to set up sham elections.
It also tries to stop poors who don't have drivers licenses in America from organizing as they can't verify.
Now with Flock surveiling most of the US: Jaywalking or littering and a Democrat or worse, leftist? You are a criminal and intelligible to vote. Incoming trump 75+% win for an illegal 3rd term or Vance.
Thiel famously said "what if there was a way, through technology, to achieve your political goals without having to beg and plead to convince people who will never agree with you anyway"
... and I'm grateful for that but maybe we can finally decouple from OEM for OSes? Maybe could JUST buy a computer and not be forced an OS on it?
Sure I admit it feels nice to unwrap a new device, turn it on, set up few options and use it. Yet, the alternative it to turn it on, plug a USB drive on it, turn it on, set up few options, wait for 15min tops for installation to proceed and use it.
It's actually a ~15min difference but it could bring so many good practices.
You can buy computers without an operating system installed on it but most consumers barely understand what a computer is and would think that a computer without an operating system was broken. So there never was much of a market and then Microsoft came along and paid the OEMs to install Windows.
Quite a few website will let you untick the windows 11 licence if you want to go your own way.
Unfortunately the Linux market is so fragmented that your average user is overwhelmed. This is not helped by the Linux community who in a general rule are not particularly accommodating towards novices.
This is beyond 99% of the population who just want it to work out of the box. This would be impossible with any apple hardware also.
Funfact, debit and credit card chips all have tiny OS's on them. Guess its back to swipping mag strips
Does this mandate include OS's with no GUIs? Are the asshats writing this aware that there's more than just Windows and Apple?
Hello Fellow Lemmings,
I called a few of my state reps and senators about this. I wasn't able to get through to Matt Ball, but I spoke with a member of Paschall's staff who was very polite and helpful despite our disagreements. i also spoke to my own rep's staff but they were not terribly tech savvy. As I suspected, to some degree, this is being framed as an attempt to introduce a less harmful scheme and set the standard before the feds or peer pressure from other states does. Apparently Paschall is meeting with System 76 soon and I asked her aid to let me know what comes of that. I still think it's bullshit and it's crazy to try this with a backdrop of eroding right, liberties, overreach of law enforcement, and mass surveillance of the American people. The Democrats can't do shit for their liberal constituents, but they're kneeling at the feet of the Republicans begging to cooperate anytime they want to do anything authoritarian "for the public good."
Interesting thing about Colorado: we have a ballot initiative process to amend the state constitution where if a citizen collects enough signatures to get an issue on the ballot, we get to vote on it. I don't know who is fighting against this legislation, I've done research and all I can find is the EFF, a few articles, and now System76. I would like to plug in to lobby against this sort of thing. How dope would it be if they passed it only to have us unpass it and collect enough signatures to get a constitutional amendment banning all identity and age verification and declaring that the power lies with the parents onto the ballot.
With that said, a tolerable outcome would be if retailers selling PCs into Colorado were required to include a bundled copy of parental control software unless the customer declines it. This gives parents the opportunity and a slight push to get involved. Do I need a copy of NortonAVGDefenderChildWatchProMAX to be bundled with every new NAS I buy? No. Is it better than the shit they're proposing now, yes.
If you read to the end, please call Ball, Paschal, and the other cosponsors and let them know that the Democratic party is taking a huge risk by shitting on their constituents by pulling out such a controversial issue at such a inopportune time. Tell them to vote NO!
Here's a link to the text and the sponsors: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-051
