I'm 38 years old. I will not verify my age or identity. I'd rather not use the internet.
this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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How would this even work for servers? Do I have to claim every one of the 5k servers in our data center as adults?
The US has become China 🇨🇳
China will look like freedom once this admin is done reshaping America.
Already does.
I've been posting this in other threads too and while the OS angle is huge, and worth picking a fight with, I haven’t seen any coverage over how this goes after developers too.
I think this is an attack on ALL open-source.
These bills are written by people who are clearly or maliciously tech illiterate and don’t understand either the terminology or the practical impacts. And of course it’s wrapped in ‘what about the children?!’
They include definitions like (paraphrasing; not quoting a specific bill, but New York, Colorado and California do this):
- "Application" is any software application that may be run on a user's device -- so ... EVERYTHING.
- "Application Store" is any publicly accessible website or similar service that distributes applications -- so ... also everywhere, such as GitHub or GeoCities.
- "Developer" is a person who writes, creates or maintains an application -- so if you have a github repo, or you've posted a binary or perhaps even a script somewhere recently, you're a developer.
And then require both developers and operating system providers to handshake this age verification data or face financial ruin. I think the original intent or appearance of intent is that the store developer needs to do the handshake. I'm not a lawyer, but I can't imagine these definitions aren't vague enough that they can't be weaponized against basically anything software.
I have a github account, and have contributed to "applications". As I read them, these bills pose a serious threat to me if I continue to do so, as that makes me a "developer" and would need to ensure the things I contribute to are doing age verification -- which I don't want to do.
I think that even outside the surveillance aspect, the chilling effect of devs not publishing applications is the end-goal. Gatekeeping software to the big publishers who have both the capacity to follow the law and the lawyers/pockets to handle a suit. These laws are going to be like the DMCA 1201 language (which had much much more prose wrapped around it and was at least attempting to limit scope), which HAS been weaponized against solo devs trying to make the world better.
I fully expect some suit against multiple github repo owners on Jan 2, 2027.
I've emailed the office of Buffy Wicks, the author of the California bill, with similar details as the above. I haven't yet identified the authors of the NY and CO bills, but I'm working on that too. If you live in one of these places, please contact your state officials and tell them this is a bad idea -- and if you don't live there, keep an eye on your state bills.
These bills are written by people who are clearly or maliciously tech illiterate and don’t understand either the terminology or the practical impacts.
They're paid by people who understand all of this very well and will profit. That's the whole reason this exists.
I can’t imagine these definitions aren’t vague enough that they can’t be weaponized against basically anything software.
Yes, that's the point. The more vague the "laws", the more control.
It's why libs have been lobbying for state control of "social media". It's a meaningless term that represents state control of all social interactions. That's the actual goal.
In NY:
Nily Rozic has sponsored assembly bill A8893
Andrew Gounardes has sponsored senate bill S8102A
Jacob Ashby has sponsored senate bill S3591
I feel like I wanna walk away from the internet for my personal life.
The second problem is just how much has moved online for example processing documents (your passport etc) same as when you have issues there’s no number to ring the store.
So it’s not like we are totally able to. We need to turn it back to how it was. They said use the internet because it made life efficient. We need to take that back.
Be the vanguard. It will take groups of people intentionally trying to live disconnected to figure out a way and have businesses start supporting it. The internet is becoming a liability as much as an asset.
This has been a long time coming, a perfect example of the frog in in the pot; well, the water is boiling now.
I will not comply with any of this. No website or service or app or app store is getting my ID. I know I wont be the only one, and the system has removed so many manual ways of doing things that those of us who refuse will bring the system to a grinding halt. It will not be easy and life will be made more difficult for us, but it will also be for them.
We must all resist this in every way we can.
It’s gonna have to be that way. I saw something here the other day saying they couldn’t check a parcel delivery without an app. Someone suggested emailing daily for an update. I aspire to be that petty.
I had to have a friend help me because a company I bought from only did customer support through Instagram.
wE hAvE +0 $aVe +hE cHiLdReN!!!!!
YoU WiLl hAvE +0 ChILdReN tHiS wAy!
Libs already saved the kids from TikTok... What can they save us from next?
this will be just as effective as the age checker on steam. Everyone is born Jan 1st. 19xx where 19xx=how far a couple scroll wheels gets you.
You can be old enough with a 20XX year now.
👵🏼
☠️💀☠️
I'm so sick of hearing about this, and seeing people who don't want to read get upset.
This is preemptively combating future federal crackdown by allowing Californians to TELL THE OS ANY BIRTH DATE THEY Want. No ID, no pictures of faces.
I'm tired of people falling for this kind of shit every single fucking time.
Authoritarianism is never passed through a bill overnight. It's one step in the wrong direction after another, multiplied N times.
This is a step in the wrong direction. After that you're one step away from "improving the verification" and you would reject that step only if you have nothing bad to hide.
Do you remember when it was only a few cameras to evaluate their efficiency? Now they're everywhere and are to use AI for behavior assessment and face recognition.
It's the same pattern every fucking time!
Just because there's a workaround doesn't mean its fine for them to do.
Didn't read I guess? This goes beyond the Californian bill. The NY bill specifically does not allow this.
This specific article opens with the California bill being mentioned:
"The top line of California's Assembly Bill No. 1043 says: "AB 1043, Wicks. Age verification signals: software applications and online services." It was approved last October, but it's hit the headlines this week. In brief:"
Sorry if you live in NY, but I'm sick of seeing CA dragged through the mud. That's my beef here.
CA should be dragged through the mud.
All these laws are creating footing to ease in more draconian laws in the future. Disgusting stuff
You should really read up on the law. That's just my opinion, though.
The nudge at Norway in the end is a bit strange. They oppose enshitification. Age checks could be part of that but I wouldn't say it is a given. I'd rather look at the Norwegian government's stance on privacy in the internet, not sure what it is.
I hate the idea of age checks, but OS is the next best thing if they don't share the information beyond. In truth it is pointless other than tracking people.
"If"
They will. Once the age check at an OS level is implemented, the next level is to enforce that this check then use a verification service. And then to make this information available to sites upon access.
I 100% agree. Then there will be different (mandatory) verification services. Some will be paid, but the free ones (ran by Microslop and Google) that will sell all your personal data to their 500+ closest affiliates.
Ultimately, the end game will be certain websites (like your Bank) won't trust your identity because your using some FOSS verification service and as "they take security seriously" will require you to use MS or Google.
Ultimately, the end game will be certain websites (like your Bank) won’t trust your identity because your using some FOSS verification service and as “they take security seriously” will require you to use MS or Google.
You can see parts of this already. When I'm browsing the web in Linux I get hot with way more captcha checks when accessing websites than when using Windows.
Even moreso with ad-blocker and PiHole. I swear that every corporate website has me do a captcha of some kind every time I click a link.
On that note, just denying trackers breaks SO many email links, and it feels like it gets worse and worse each year.
How would you even implement it otherwise?
(Well actually, you as a parent would be an admin, and create appropriate accounts for your children, and any third party would trust that age number set on that user account, thus pushing the burden back on the parent to properly parent. But they won’t do that because this isn’t really the point here.)
This is whay drives me, it was like that, and it worked if you did it, fuck it works when you do it. My kids cant see porn, or most ads. Why? Because I blocked that at my own router, and then again with age restricting on their appropriately created account. Its not hard this is all insanity.
Well the way I view it is it's all useless. If a 10 year old goes to buy a phone, they can't do so without getting money from an adult who therefore approved of it. If a 15 year old buys a cell phone they can't.... Because they need an adult to have a credit card/bank that allows monthly payments. Only offered to an adult. If you are a minor you can only get one with an adults co-sign. Thus the idea that a child has access to the Internet without an adults consent is just untrue 99.9 percent of the time. schools monitor the traffic . So every situation comes down to negligence on the parent. Who will sign their account in, or their credit card on the kids phone... bypassing all reason for the laws
The real answer is to swap it. Make websites have a tag for the type of content they contain. Browsers can then be configured to allow/disallow different types.
You get a way better version of the same claimed benefit of parental controls (that we know is a lie in the current version), and we aren't forcing our identification to be uploaded to major hacking target sites with questionable security
The only way this can be implemented at the OS level (not the vendor level) is to put in whatever date you want. That includes any notion of scanning “IDs”.
If you want to setup a kid’s account on a phone or pc, then you have the control. If they are smart enough to do it themselves, then hey- don’t hold them back.
My immediate concern is giving sites additional fingerprinting material. The OS better not give away an actual birthdate- when they can option for adult/not-adult, etc. Next concern is moving the age verification to a corporation, at which point the dystopia is real.
Next concern is moving the age verification to a corporation, at which point the dystopia is real.
The state is bad enough. Selling us off to a subsidiary will be just another insult.
If they can get age check software onto my Arch system I will be very impressed indeed.
It's big brain time!
A direct result of libs endlessly crying for state control of the internet.
Enjoy your zionist TikTok and state-controled Linux!
Liberalism <---> Fascism.