this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2026

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140

California mandates "Age" Verification for all Operating Systems including Linux (www.pcgamer.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by jackmaoist@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net

54 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Assembly Bill No. 1043 was approved by California governor Gavin Newsom in October of last year, and becomes active on January 1, 2027 (via The Lunduke Journal). The bill states, among other factors, that "An operating system provider shall do all of the following:"

"(1) Provide an accessible interface at account setup that requires an account holder to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user’s age bracket to applications available in a covered application store.

"(2) Provide a developer who has requested a signal with respect to a particular user with a digital signal via a reasonably consistent real-time application programming interface that identifies, at a minimum, which of the following categories pertains to the user."

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[–] OrionsMask@hexbear.net 108 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

What the fuck is up with the ruling class's push on age verification on everything the past year? Does anyone actually know what the deal is?

My brain goes to the theory that they want to create undodgable ways to surveil everyone after the Luigi incident so everyone's ID (and photo) is on record, making them easier to track - I trust these people not storing identifiable information as much as I trust my phone to not be recording 24/7. The fact that Palantir has started to spread like mold in every industry with sizable information databases too.

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 98 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Automated AI Surveillance to link users to everything they do online spearheaded by Palantir and Israel.

[–] O__O@hexbear.net 52 points 2 weeks ago

Exactly this. This is from palantir source code

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 38 points 2 weeks ago

Probably, another angle I've thought about is having your browsing history on file for potential arrest and or future blackmail if you become someone important.

[–] tombruzzo@hexbear.net 26 points 2 weeks ago

I heard an angle the age verification laws in Australia were to stop competing legislation banning gambling ads. If they can arbitrarily say they've kicked kids off the internet they can justify still allowing more ads

[–] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 15 points 2 weeks ago

They are having a bit of trouble with finding enough minors after Epstein didn't kill himself.

[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 10 points 2 weeks ago

They want a forever permanent record from birth to death. All the bullshit you do from the moment you can pull up your own pants. Blackmail. Insurance rates. Credit scores/cards. Loans. School admissions. Everything.

[–] decaptcha@hexbear.net 76 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Lookin forward to scrolling past the CA-compliant linux isos, lmao

[–] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 11 points 2 weeks ago

CIA-compliant

[–] Muscle_Meteor@discuss.tchncs.de 72 points 2 weeks ago

This OS causes cancer in the state of california

Mint probably

[–] LENINSGHOSTFACEKILLA@hexbear.net 65 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

late to work again because my toaster wont sign in without my yubi key and the touch controls are all greasy

[–] abc@hexbear.net 45 points 2 weeks ago

you joke but i bet if you polled every IT Guy in California they'd probably overwhelmingly recommend every household appliance should require 2FA and will drive out to the drone-strike trailer to target you if, as a homeowner, use your Feitan for your toaster 2FA instead of creating a ticket to request a yubikey from the government like you're supposed to

[–] Dessa@hexbear.net 16 points 2 weeks ago

Tagline please

[–] EveningCicada@hexbear.net 64 points 2 weeks ago

No need to do (1) if there's no "account setup" doggirl-smart

[–] Meltyheartlove@hexbear.net 61 points 2 weeks ago

The pedophile elite demands your age for your safety.

[–] darkcalling@hexbear.net 54 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wonder if Microslop will back-port this to Windows 10 because of the great opportunity to demand IDs and logging into a Microslop account on your machine.

[–] jackmaoist@hexbear.net 32 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Doubt it since it's EOL. But you should not use Windows. Move to Linux or atleast use Windows LTSC.

[–] darkcalling@hexbear.net 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

LTSC is still an operating system with network connectivity. IF they were back-porting it to Windows 10 they'd include it there as well most likely because these laws don't tend to provide intelligent exemptions like for server OSes or embedded stuff.

In California's case I can forgive them for now IF they don't amend it and make it worse (big IF) as I suspect this will be a stepping stone to saying "now that you have this basic thing, implement a workflow to check an ID at set-up as well". As it stands at PRESENT it's just parental controls where a parent can set their kid's age as young and restrict them from inappropriate stuff which isn't a bad goal necessarily (though fraught with actual problems in a reactionary society like ours).

If I were writing these laws at a minimum I'd exclude OSes that lack a GUI as well as those that have a GUI but lack an ability for unrestricted internet access as well as those that reasonably are not used by consumers such as those intended to be installed on server hardware and which are not sold generally to average end users.

More than likely other states pass this but require an ID or something and companies like Microslop, Google, Apple say fuck it and though initially restricting such requirements to those states announce a nationwide rollout because trying to comply with various laws is hard so might as well just comply with the strictest version floating around more than one state.

So I doubt we'll be worrying about this for long. They'll be outlawing Linux in practice before the decade is up except for certified CIA run editions with closed source ID checking modules from Palantir or whatever. Which means hardware vendors will likely lock out those versions or at least not make hardware compatible with them or offer drivers. Valve can pull off maintaining their own flavored fork that complies but it'll only run on certified hardware, everyone else will use a version of Microslop Linux which is just Linux by Microslop with their AI and lots of proprietary code compiled on top of it. But all the other editions will become hard pressed to be run on anything your average consumer can buy. Dark times ahead.

But you should not use Windows.

I'll use what I need to in order to run what I need to run. For now I must maintain Windows machines. LTSC? Why yes I do. Thanks for your concern.

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[–] MeetMeAtTheMovies@hexbear.net 53 points 2 weeks ago

Kinda excited for my Linux distro to be illegal. I read Little Brother by Cory Doctorow as a kid and it left a big impact

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 48 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Pcgamer citing lunduke is cringe, literally the worst person you know and not an expert on anything.

This law is so unenforceable you could just call it anarcho capitalism. I can't wait for Californian liberals to enter the "Is it GNU, is it Linux or GNU/Linux/systemd/gnome|kde/Firefox" flamewars.

[–] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 44 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Can't wait for California Tech bros to cry when they tank their state's econony.

I need to find that picture of the tech bros looking like apes crying about their NFT's or whatever that silly fad was.

[–] culpritus@hexbear.net 31 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

all-my-apes-gone

[–] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's the one! 😄 Is that an official hexbear emoji now?

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Has been for a few years, you can tell because it's an AI image from back when those were seen as just kinda funny and not an affront to all life.

[–] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago

Fair. In their defense they can still be generated cheaply locally by open source programs like stable diffusion, there's just a slight quality downgrade. I'm given to understand that the real environmental damage is in the training, but open source initiatives greatly reduce that (done once, free for all).

[–] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 5 points 2 weeks ago

normal people aren't literate enough to reject this in "harm the economy" numbers

[–] plinky@hexbear.net 44 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

so many 1927 users to appear

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 33 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I was born in 1885, I'm a vampire so you must accommodate me

[–] FlakesBongler@hexbear.net 25 points 2 weeks ago

[–] FloridaBoi@hexbear.net 13 points 2 weeks ago

Invitation only

[–] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 weeks ago

Something something 1984

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[–] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 41 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I retract my previous statement where I begrudgingly mentioned my California envy.

one of the few places where CHUDs don’t have TOTAL cultural hegemony

destroy the quality of life for their constituents because they’re bored.

Who the fuck ASKED for this?

[–] sexywheat@hexbear.net 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Who the fuck ASKED for this?

Palantir and the terrorist state of Pissrael (and its obedient lackeys)

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 11 points 2 weeks ago

Who the fuck ASKED for this?

Gruesome Newsom's campaign bid to sweep the Bay Area ghouls because they're realistically the only people left in America who decide elections and could also go either way.

[–] Omegamint@hexbear.net 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or else what? They can’t sell copies of Microsoft on the shelves at Best Buy? Lol. I mean I guess they might have this enforced in a way where laptops and prebuilts can’t have windows installed until it has age verification built in? Lol

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 8 points 2 weeks ago

Windows 11 boxes behind the counter with the cigarettes and porn mags.

[–] allthetimesivedied2@hexbear.net 35 points 2 weeks ago

California has for as long as I can remember had this weird unique brand of liberal authoritarianism. I'm so glad I left.

[–] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 35 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

bool is_adult() {
  return true;
}

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

linux is 18 and older, so we're covered big-cool

GNU is 40 and older. chomsky-yes-honey

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 31 points 2 weeks ago

Lol. Lmao.

[–] JakenVeina@midwest.social 30 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

On its face, this seems actually fine. All it's REALLY mandating is that apps have a way to ask if the user is an adult or not. The burden of trust is placed on whoever sets up the OS, I.E. the parent, which is EXACTLY where it should be. No burden is placed on adults setting up usage for themselves. It's not even much of a privacy concern, given that setup doesn't require specifying age, but a general age bracket.

We'll have to see how this ends up getting implemented.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 23 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, it literally says nothing about the method of verification or its reliability

[–] dontmindmehere307@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

isn't it essentially bait for a harsher law then? any proposed implementation will immediately instigate a thousand bored devs to find ways to bypass, then they can go "look how easy it is to bypass", and justify whatever?

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[–] dadarobot 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

dramatic increase in LFS in california. youre not an os provider if youre just putting the pieces together for personal use. the real trouble will be if they bake this into the bios somehow

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[–] segfault11@hexbear.net 26 points 2 weeks ago

yeah but you know what doesn't require age verification? redacted-1 redacted-2 😌