this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2026
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Yes. Open source software is never really (in theory, yes (jurisdiction of the project/developers), but not in practice) dependent on particular jurisdictions anywhere, because it's like open knowledge that can be instantly translated/compiled/packaged into a usable product. And this open knowledge can spread anywhere and also be modified by anyone anywhere at any time.
And this is important, as we're seeing with the US now drifting into a fascist dictatorship that stopped being reasonable or sane and just does what it wants. Open source is an important defense against the appearance of criminal regimes, because it guarantees independence and always possible continuation of the software.
So for example even if the devs/maintainers of open source projects would be legally forced to add age verification code, it's still open source and can be patched out rather easily (e.g. be replaced by code that just does "isAdult = true; return isAdult;" without any online ~~spyware~~ verification systems behind it, and the modifications can then be distributed by anyone, anywhere, anyhow and be applied by all users of that software.
This age verification stuff is only really broadly applicable within the context of proprietary software where users have zero control over what the software does and have to use it exactly like packaged (although there are probably workarounds even in that case). Worst case scenario is that they'll realize this and as a result not scrap the whole idea or make an exception for open source, but instead try to make open source software illegal simply because it can't be enforced there. But that would of course prompt such a major backlash world-wide that they won't achieve anything with that except make themselves look silly. But you never know what those politicians and lawyers are smoking next...