this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
633 points (97.6% liked)

linuxmemes

30537 readers
1005 users here now

Hint: :q!


Sister communities:


Community rules (click to expand)

1. Follow the site-wide rules

2. Be civil
  • Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.
  • Do not harrass or attack users for any reason. This includes using blanket terms, like "every user of thing".
  • Don't get baited into back-and-forth insults. We are not animals.
  • Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.
  • Bigotry will not be tolerated.
  • 3. Post Linux-related content
  • Including Unix and BSD.
  • Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of sudo in Windows.
  • No porn, no politics, no trolling or ragebaiting.
  • Don't come looking for advice, this is not the right community.
  • 4. No recent reposts
  • Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, <loves/tolerates/hates> systemd, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.
  • 5. πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Language/язык/Sprache
  • This is primarily an English-speaking community. πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§πŸ‡¦πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ
  • Comments written in other languages are allowed.
  • The substance of a post should be comprehensible for people who only speak English.
  • Titles and post bodies written in other languages will be allowed, but only as long as the above rule is observed.
  • 6. (NEW!) Regarding public figuresWe all have our opinions, and certain public figures can be divisive. Keep in mind that this is a community for memes and light-hearted fun, not for airing grievances or leveling accusations.
  • Keep discussions polite and free of disparagement.
  • We are never in possession of all of the facts. Defamatory comments will not be tolerated.
  • Discussions that get too heated will be locked and offending comments removed.
  • Β 

    Please report posts and comments that break these rules!


    Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't remove France.

    founded 2 years ago
    MODERATORS
     

    If you can feel a very small tinge of existential horror when you read the words "try to", congratulations, you're a true *nix devotee.

    If legislators get grumpy about this, just gently thwap them with your handy copy of The Unix Haters Handbook and tell them you're working as hard as you can under the circumstances.

    you are viewing a single comment's thread
    view the rest of the comments
    [–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

    The problem with that whole situation is the way the law is written the developer is the one held responsible if a child circumvents the check to access adult content. Therefore, developers will have to pay hefty fines unless they:

    -1: Have a way to positively make sure the person enters their age is telling the truth; and

    -2: Lock this value from being changed by the user afterwards.

    Or: Region lock the OS.

    One can see how incredibly problematic this is for both privacy and true ownership and control over your own machine. There is also a lot that needs to be figured out in the law such as what will happen when someone inevitably finds a way to hack the system to circumvent it, especially the region lock. Ultimately, big tech has deep pockets and can shrug off the fines but small nonprofit open source projects will be killed by them.

    This law is specifically designed to kill nonprofit-run and private software like Linux.

    [–] tkk13909@sopuli.xyz 24 points 3 days ago

    Making the vendor culpable for a user bypassing a software lock is absurd but then again so is this entire bill.

    [–] yardy_sardley@lemmy.ca 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

    All of this seems impossible to enforce in the FOSS ecosystem. People can just fork the software and remove any restriction they don't like. That's kind of the whole point of free software. Users are free to use their devices however they like, including in ways that are not intended by the devloper.

    [–] bilb@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

    You're right. Computing devices need to be locked down in such a way that prevents consumers running software that isn't signed by an approved/licensed software vendor owned and/or favored by an oligarch and existing general purpose computers need to be made illegal. We don't need "hobbyist programmers" anymore, humans have no place writing code.

    [–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 14 points 3 days ago (4 children)

    This law is specifically designed to kill nonprofit-run and private software like Linux.

    I do not know if that is true. Most of the political hacks writing these bills have zero understanding of computers and do not even consider Linux in the equation. They see Windows, iOS, Android and macOS.

    This is more aimed at mom and dad with three children who have tablets for all the shits and take no responsibility for what the kids do with the devices.

    Linux devs will just step back from releasing code packaged with installers and users will have to compile and set any given program up themselves.

    I use MacPorts and Homebrew for what I need.

    [–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

    You are correct that they have zero understanding of computers. But what you are missing is that they are consulting "experts" who are essentially just big tech lobbyists.

    [–] bobo@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

    And when you say consulting, you mean that they've been legally bribed with a few mils.

    [–] borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

    More like a few tens of thousands.

    [–] bobo@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

    Check that again, last year meta literally broke the record for the amount spent on legal bribery in a year.

    [–] borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

    Ahk, gotcha. I was referring to the fact that it only takes a few thousand to legally bribe a state representative.

    [–] MrKoyun@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

    I've started to believe that in fact, the political hacks do know what is going on with tech. They just do this shit anyway... Because they are sick at heart.

    I feel like it is too late. People still do not care and will never care... We've lost.

    [–] bobo@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 days ago

    Most of the political hacks writing these bills have zero understanding of computers and do not even consider Linux in the equation.

    Meta literally broke the record for the most legal bribery in a year over shifting the liability from platform to app store (as they're facing tens of billions in fines). Apple and Google have been pumping tens of millions to counter it.

    The political hacks are just reading what the corpos wrote for them...