this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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California moves to exempt Linux from its upcoming age-verification law after backlash over forcing operating systems to collect users’ ages (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 14 hours ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] tal@lemmy.today 10 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Under the original law, operating systems would be required to request a user’s age or birth date during device setup, then expose an “age bracket signal” to apps and app stores. The law, which defined brackets such as “under 13,” “13–15,” “16–17,” and “18+,” immediately raised questions about how such requirements would apply to decentralized, open-source software ecosystems.

I kind of wonder what software running as a service on Windows is supposed to identify itself as if it's non-interactively downloading software.

[–] Disillusionist@piefed.world 8 points 6 hours ago

A lot of unanswered practical implementation questions surrounding this. Questions like how and why about a lot of things.

A question I have is why all the separate age brackets would be necessary. If the purpose is keeping kids from accessing porn or other "adult" material, why do they need any other categories aside from under 18 and 18+? Those age brackets read more like the kind of demographic categories advertisers, data brokers, etc are interested in than a simple age verification check.