Dutch disease. Govt. just needs to keep the cash cows happy. Everybody else is irrelevant; just critters roaming the land.
A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
561–570 of 768 posts
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#562All the law asks is that 'adduser' asks for their birthday; and and age restricted software checks this on installation.
Given we already have software it is illegal to sell to children this seems like an easy win? (Obviously it is still down to the parents to ensure the account is setup correctly)
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#563Ignoring all the tedious 'no, you're a bad person for having different priorities and beliefs to me' comments that this will inevitably inspire, I have to ask: why does the operating system need to be involved in this? The intended target of the regulation seems to be app stores. Someone has fallen victim to Politician's Logic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vidzkYnaf6Y
Arguably the operating system (or potentially the user-agent) is the exact place to do this.
What I don't get is why it can't just all be client side. An app will just signal "I am going to show 16+ information" and the OS will either show it or not show it. No need to communicate anything.
Giving people the choice to limit a device for their children is okay by me.
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#564Earlier quoted context omitted.
Android systems use Linux as their operating system, and the law applies to operating systems. Android has associated app stores, therefore Linux must follow this at account setup .. (I'm mostly hoping I'm just jesting here, that they'd surely not enforce it in this way, plus, who "provides" my Linux OS?) In any event, it does seem like a very silly overreaching law, that should be highlighted, pointed out, and laugh…
Linux isn’t really an operating system but more the kernel of the OS. In this case, Android would be the OS. Do you remember this copypasta? https://www.reddit.com/r/copypasta/s/3nonwfDeyX
I remember it when RMS was shouting it from the rooftops.
I'm not sure that ART/Linux is any more catchy than GNU/Linux, but just as GNU wasn't the OS, neither is ART.
Don't get me wrong, these are all very silly pedantic arguments in the face of such a law.
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#565Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is a repository on a linux machine an app store? Are custom repositories app stores? Does this mean that now most automated deployments are now not automated? If they can be automated, does that mean that having the automation by default makes sense?
Android systems use Linux as their operating system, and the law applies to operating systems. Android has associated app stores, therefore Linux must follow this at account setup .. (I'm mostly hoping I'm just jesting here, that they'd surely not enforce it in this way, plus, who "provides" my Linux OS?) In any event, it does seem like a very silly overreaching law, that should be highlighted, pointed out, and laugh…
Are you jesting? Honestly it could be. It's impossible to tell.
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#566Earlier quoted context omitted.
" It applies to operating systems that work with associated app stores on general purpose computers or mobile phones or game consoles. That’s it" Everything is a general purpose computer. Just look at how many things have been made to run doom. I haven't read the law specifically but if it actually does say this then that language is useless and means practically everything.
vague laws are put in place so that they can be used selectively to punish particular victims while letting friends through the nets
All laws are vague and interpreted, and in common law (as in the UK and US) interpreted based on precedent rather than the specific text of the original law.
If people with power over you want to "selectively punish you" they don't need new laws.
And if you want perfectly proscriptive, defined laws in all situations with no "human interpretation" you're in the wrong universe, and may as well be shouting at clouds. The world, and especially human society and interactions, just doesn't follow strict definitions like that.
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#567What a great plot for a Black Mirror episode. Oh wait, it’s real life.
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#568we will own nothing, eat le bugs and be happy
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#569Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m more curious in the genesis of these laws, whether their sponsors received written suggestions or ghostwritten bills, etc. as a form of parallel construction. It seems all at once, everywhere that many groups that have a vested interest in forcing precedent and compliance of non-anonymous access across the computer world. It smacks of something less-than-organic.
This law doesn't do anything that prevents non-anonymous access. Here's how you would access things anonymously if you bought a new computer that implemented this. 1. When you set up your account and it asks for your birthdate, make up any date you want that is at least far enough in the past to indicate an age older that what any site you might use that checks age requires. 2. Access things the way you've always don…
As with all age verification bills, the fact that developers are opened up to liability if children access content they're not "supposed to" means that facial scans and ID checks will be implemented as they currently are everywhere.
From the bill:
> (3) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), a developer shall treat a signal received pursuant to this title as the primary indicator of a user’s age range for purposes of determining the user’s age.
> (B) If a developer has internal clear and convincing information that a user’s age is different than the age indicated by a signal received pursuant to this title, the developer shall use that information as the primary indicator of the user’s age.
It's not enough to just accept the age signal, you can still be liable if you have reason to believe someone is underage based on other information.
The cheapest and easiest way to minimize that liability is with face scans and ID checks. That way you, as a developer, know that your users won't bankrupt you.
Re: A new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
#570Reaction 1: how would this even work with embedded systems that have no UI to input this data? Reaction 2: it's open source, make the lawmakers do submit the changes. Reaction 3: how would this ever be enforced? Would they outlaw downloading distributions, or even older versions of distributions? When there's no exchange of money, a law like this is seems like it would be suppression of free speech. Reaction 4: Someo…
> Reaction 3: how would this ever be enforced? Would they outlaw downloading distributions
They can outlaw you from using those distributions and/or scare the maintainers so there won't be distributions anymore. And if you want to use a desktop computer rent one from an hyperscaler, tied to a credit card and access it from a tablet with age verification. I don't know if I should add /s