Ubuntu devs are discussing implementing mandatory age verification at the OS level due to some California BS law.
How the hell would you enforce that for headless servers that get deployed and torn down automatically?
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And how many days would it be before there was a fork without this bs?
In a headless server installation, what even is the age? Is it per user in a multiuser system?
This is so stupid.
this is retarded
Why would you waste your time as a dev doing that? I just don't understand.
Presumably that would be in the desktop installer. No need to enforce anything if people submit voluntarily. Who else is not surprised that it's ubuntu doing it first?
Ubuntu was always shit.
FWIW, from what I can tell, California's Digital Age Assurance Act doesn't actually require age *verification* per se. Merely accepting a user's self-reported age is sufficient. So yes, it's an even dumber law than it sounds.
*this is not legal advice 😉
The enforcement failure is a consequence of the wrong layer. Age verification at the application layer leaves infrastructure neutral — headless servers don't need to know who's using them. Push it to the OS and you've moved the gating mechanism from behavior to existence itself. That's the same category error as trying to regulate arithmetic: the kernel doesn't know your age, and neither does a hash function.
They could just rebrand to California Linux. No one outside of Cali would use that shit.
Also, the obvious answer is don't use Ubuntu for servers, which was true before anyhow so unless you are incompetent no changes needed.
CaliLinux 😆
They cannot be serious
That should not be the question. Linux and age verification don't go together. It should never be a consideration. It's like doing this for the Bitcoin network.
personally I think it would be a great UX to scan my butthole Everytime I reboot my server to ensure safety in california
Any Linux vendor which deploys this anti-feature needs to be ostracized, loudly. Use Debian, it's now better than Ubuntu's bloat and snap hell anyway.
The only correct move is for open source and freedom tech vendors openly resist, and defy.
Yep, just like when you go to a gun website. “Are you 18 or 21 years of age or older?” YES.
AAron Rainbolt:
I propose that the exact way in which age information is stored by the
daemon should be left implementation-defined. For Kicksecure, the way
we implement it will almost certainly store only the age bracket and
require users to explicitly reconfigure their age once they are old
enough to move from one age bracket to another. Other implementations
may choose to store the date of birth or the age and date on which the
age was set so that they can automatically update the age bracket as
time passes. This interface will be provided *on the system bus* (NOT
the session bus!), and the D-Bus service that provides these services
should run as root. The file containing the user-to-age mappings should
be owned by root and should not be world-readable, to prevent leaking
the user's specific age to malicious applications.
My guess is that they have to "discuss it", and will reach a conclusion of having to do something minimal that sort of shows that they tried...
No one in Cali would use it either 😂
take a look, with your beloved @npub185h9...wrdp,
at today’s video from your dear @npub1s33s...252p
jon atack from el salvador 🤙
Apparently, they think this can work. lol
they should just grow a fucking pair and stand in noncompliance.
what are the law enforcers going to do, take down every linux machine?
LOL. Like a cyclone fence to keep the mosquitoes out
Putting in 1900-01-01 and feeling like:
☠️
They are “put you in a cage” serious. The most serious clowns on earth.
Don't tell him, he might push it into core.
Oh no. I Gnome capitulating? I guess that's to be expected.
Zero surprises. Another reason I love Omarchy: it's Hyprland.
Is a package manager an app store? Probably according to these idiot legislators. 😕 The app stores are all basically the apt / yum pattern. They are synaptic package manager clones.
They should just not comply and let it go to court. I wish California would sink already.
Like a data center filled with bitcoin miners?
Do miners need to age verify minors?
Ohio law*
The California law is just a watered down version
I tried it in a VM. My only complaint from the short time I fooled around with it was that you have to press the super key frequently. I prefer alt and Ctrl (with capslock mapped as a Ctrl key.) I'm going to have to revisit this.
I think this age verification (gateway to digital ID just to usr a computer) will spark DAO managed forks of linux distros. Debian and Fedora are both managed by legal nonprofit entities that can be sued because some teenager was caught looking at porn.
So far, DAOs have been a LARP. Maybe some day.
Meanwhile, you can remap keys to your heart's desire.
So at a server park of a bank, whose age is used at bootup for each server? The CEO of the bank? Or the operator installing and configuring the server?