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Comment by thelastgallon | original | California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law
[−]thelastgallon · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:05 UTC · link
Linux phones, Linux gaming machines, Linux on Desktop and Laptops, Linux VR/AR, Linux watches, etc.
[−]close04 · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:15 UTC · link
And then the exception will evaporate overnight.
[−]shuwix · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:25 UTC · link
One gotta love politicians and their "solutions" and their longevity.
[−]shevy-java · 2026-08-30 Sun 09:51 UTC · link
Precisely. Courts will find that the situation where Linux users are exempt from the law, whereas Windows users have to submit their ID and any other personal data, can not be maintained, so Linux users will also be forced to give up their ID before being able to access the internet. This will also first come via commercial distributions (perhaps it can not be enforced by independent linux users, but the law need not necessarily work for 100%, could be 95%, and the rest are declared as breaking the law).
[−]lern_too_spel · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:03 UTC · link
This law does not require non Linux users to give up their ID to use the Internet, so why would they make Linux users do so?
[−]alexnewman · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:39 UTC · link
Totally agree. After the next big cyber attack, ganna have to kyc to access internet. It will be “for our safety”. Luckily now with ai the world doesn’t need me as a programmer so I’m just ganna stop using computers if they go full facist
[−]AnimalMuppet · 2026-08-30 Sun 12:35 UTC · link
Why do you think the next big cyberattack is going to have that effect, when the last N did not?
[−]LanceH · 2026-08-30 Sun 15:47 UTC · link
As for the bill itself, it's one of those that gets passed because it is non invasive to the typical person, it's voluntary, and it should help some. There is no downside at all.

But 2 years from now a baseline has been established where the need to know your age when using a computer is taken for granted, and it's revealed that self-reporting isn't working and gasp there was this one kid in the news about something bad happening.

This is how it goes. This is one of the reasons the anti-gun crowd is so adamantly opposed to virtually everything. I'm not advocating anything with respect to guns here, but "sensible" measures were broadly supported and then turned against the owners who acquiesced.

An "exception" is two faced in this case. It implies Linux needs an exception to begin with and that the bill itself isn't absolute garbage and a direct attack on general purpose computing. Again, they establish a baseline with something that people are ok with.

[−]dgoldstein0 · 2026-08-30 Sun 07:40 UTC · link
Or more likely companies and people will just comply. It might give a little more fuel to open source from people who are ardently pro privacy that balk at an age signal bring implemented, but I don't think that's such a huge segment of users.
[−]b112 · 2026-08-30 Sun 10:18 UTC · link
I think the upstream premise was kids using Linux to get around things. This could be the case, even in a world of the average Joe just putting up with the intrusion and hassles.

So really, both concepts can mesh.

After all, once compliant an adult is then not restricted.