On Mon, 2026-03-09 at 03:56 -0500, David C Rankin wrote: > This may end up being an interesting exercise to watch. Nothing short > of a war between the privacy advocates, and the advocates for the > protection of children. Not to mention the FOSS community's eagerness > to have more personal information captured in the OS -- and then by > what, systemd?
I can't resist saying more about this. The questions would be 1. With an open source operating system, how can you ensure that a security mechanism that performs age verification cannot simply be bypassed before installing this operating system or using it for the first time or each time you want to use it? It would be possible to bypass this without cracking any ominous binary blobs. This makes the whole thing even more absurd, especially for users who use a distro that is not user-friendly but user-centric. 2. Who should verify and store the data? Should David, for example, hold his ID up to a webcam and have a trusted user check it and store it in a database? 3. I haven't read the law. Does every login have to be done by someone above a certain age limit for younger users? Does it have to be a legal guardian? Some have mentioned routers and smart TVs, which would be perfectly acceptable when it comes to child protection. Which devices still operate with complex gear mechanisms today? Or just with electrical circuits, on-off timers via NE555? I still have a lot of old devices and haven't had to look inside the new ones yet. But I would be very surprised if new devices didn't use computers, but instead used gears and analog electronics. What about the dishwasher, washing machine, etc.? Are 13-year-olds now not allowed to learn to be independent without someone first approving the dishwasher or washing machine? Up to what age should little ones suckle at their mother's breast? Until they are 16? Until they are 18? Even if this could be implemented, it would be disastrous for children's development.
