6 ms·
Excellent. From now on all kids will become linux natives. The decade of the linux desktop is coming!
by cm2187 18d ago
Excellent. From now on all kids will become linux natives. The decade of the linux desktop is coming!
- glitchbot 17d agoSystem 76, framework and a pinebook I am covered.
- thelastgallon 18d agoLinux phones, Linux gaming machines, Linux on Desktop and Laptops, Linux VR/AR, Linux watches, etc.
- close04 18d agoAnd then the exception will evaporate overnight.
- shuwix 17d agoOne gotta love politicians and their "solutions" and their longevity.
- shevy-java 17d agoPrecisely. Courts will find that the situation where Linux users are exempt from the law, whereas Windows users have to submit their ID and any other personal data, can not be maintained, so Linux users will also be forced to give up their ID before being able to access the internet. This will also first come via commercial distributions (perhaps it can not be enforced by independent linux users, but the law need not necessarily work for 100%, could be 95%, and the rest are declared as breaking the law).
- lern_too_spel 17d agoThis law does not require non Linux users to give up their ID to use the Internet, so why would they make Linux users do so?
- alexnewman 17d agoTotally agree. After the next big cyber attack, ganna have to kyc to access internet. It will be “for our safety”. Luckily now with ai the world doesn’t need me as a programmer so I’m just ganna stop using computers if they go full facist
- AnimalMuppet 17d agoWhy do you think the next big cyberattack is going to have that effect, when the last N did not?
- alexnewman 10d agoI mean the big one
- nickdurfe 17d agoThis is pure speculation. You can't possibly predict what courts are going to decide in the future. And the Digital Age Assurance Act doesn't "force a user to give up ID to access the Internet", it requires age information to be collected during creation of a user account on a system.
- LanceH 17d agoAs for the bill itself, it's one of those that gets passed because it is non invasive to the typical person, it's voluntary, and it should help some. There is no downside at all. But 2 years from now a baseline has been established where the need to know your age when using a computer is taken for granted, and it's revealed that self-reporting isn't working and gasp there was this one kid in the news about something bad happening. This is how it goes. This is one of the reasons the anti-gun crowd is so adamantly opposed to virtually everything. I'm not advocating anything with respect to guns here, but "sensible" measures were broadly supported and then turned against the owners who acquiesced. An "exception" is two faced in this case. It implies Linux needs an exception to begin with and that the bill itself isn't absolute garbage and a direct attack on general purpose computing. Again, they establish a baseline with something that people are ok with.
- tstrimple 17d agoThe baseline is already being established. In the majority of US states now you have to send your photo ID to a 3rd party to access "adult content". The conspiracy theories around the California and Illinois laws are senseless given the speed run the rest of the country is doing to ending privacy online. We get threads with hundreds of comments about California "fighting against privacy" and basically silence on the dozens of other states implementing far more privacy invasive legislation.
- iamnothere 17d agoEveryone expects Kansas to continue being Kansas. Many users here live on the West coast and find themselves suddenly affected.
- LanceH 17d agoI agree, it's just a different vector to entry based on content. California is stepping it up to computing as a whole. Combine the two. Then the next step is actual ID, not an ID clearinghouse. But we're all paranoid for suggesting such things, just as people were paranoid that we'd get this far.
- dgoldstein0 17d agoOr more likely companies and people will just comply. It might give a little more fuel to open source from people who are ardently pro privacy that balk at an age signal bring implemented, but I don't think that's such a huge segment of users.
- b112 17d agoI think the upstream premise was kids using Linux to get around things. This could be the case, even in a world of the average Joe just putting up with the intrusion and hassles. So really, both concepts can mesh. After all, once compliant an adult is then not restricted.
- injidup 17d agoSo I run my app in a linux container under windows and I'm exempt from age verification? Isn't android linux under the hood? I'm sure the law is not so easy to get around. How does it work?
- dgoldstein0 17d agoIt sounds like since Android is a commercial repackaging of Linux it's in scope and Google gets to figure it out.
- vbezhenar 17d agoGoogle literally backed and supported this law.
- onetokeoverthe 17d ago[dead]
- torginus 17d agoAndroi might be legally exempt, but the Android phone you buy at the store with a locked bootloader technically won't be.
- bee_rider 17d agoThe article says > These amendments redefine the term “operating system provider” to exclude any person or entity that distributes an OS or application “under license terms that permit a recipient to copy, redistribute, and modify the software.” Any software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses satisfies that test, which removes the likes of Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, and the BSD family from AB 1856’s scope. […] > Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android remain fully in scope, with age collection required at account setup from January 1, 2027. A later July 1, 2027, deadline applies to devices set up before January 1. Whether SteamOS is in scope isn’t yet clear: its Arch-based system components are open source, but Valve distributes the image alongside the proprietary Steam client. I’m slightly confused about Android, I thought Android the OS was open source but then enough functionality is added by Google’s app store to keep it sort of under their control for the most part…
- NooneAtAll3 17d agoso... we are back to a monopoly, but now government-enforced one
- shevy-java 17d agoThe government is very suspiciously constantly siding with huge private corporations. I have a bad feeling here.
- theasisa 17d agoI've been hearing about this since the late 90s.
- ProllyInfamous 17d agoI've been ignoring Linux since the early 90s. Would always install some variant, think it was "pretty cool" for a few days, then revert back to "whatever MacOS was offering" (for my daily driver). ---- 2026: I just finished building my third Ubuntu Linux machine, this year (gave the first one to my brother). An Ubuntu running a 5070Ti is now my main operating system.
- dwb 17d agoYes, that’s the joke.
- ludicrousdispla 17d agoI credit Minecraft with getting an entire generation comfortable using command line statements.
- Avamander 17d agoI chuckled for a bit, then realized you're probably right. It does get people familiar with it and probably helps a lot.
- Vacyyyy 17d agoLiterally why I got into CS
- SiempreViernes 17d agoI find the gunplay in Minecraft very limited, so I'm surprised that is how you got into Counterstrike ;)
- tyre 17d agoIf they’re American, guns are just part of our education system.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 17d agoNot as much anymore. Sure, trap teams are common, but we used to have school rifle clubs that taught safe handling of firearms. Now we've decided that if we don't talk about something, people won't get curious about it. Sadly, without being properly taught how to be safe, that generally ends tragically.
- snackoverflow 17d agoI believe the comment was in reference to the frequency of school shootings in the United States vs the rest of the world.
- herpdyderp 17d agoI'm a lifelong Apple fan but my kids have Steam Decks and Raspberry Pis. I hope they grow to love Linux.
- bobowzki 17d agoIs 2027 the year of the Linux desktop?
- yonatan8070 17d agoWasn't 2020 the year of the Linux desktop?
- tsoukase 16d agoThe year of linux desktop lies in the heart of each of it's users.
- amelius 17d agoYes and the end of locked down Apple iDevices.
- KellyCriterion 17d agoThe thing is, unfortunately most people will not notice and be aware of what this means. (and which effect it may have on market share etc.) And most techies are already primarily on Linux and its derivatives.
- brookst 17d agoAnd it always will be!
- moody__ 17d agoJust in time for the kernel and its consequences to become completely hostile to anyone not paying for a frontier model. If I was 16 again and evaluating linux only to see everyone using LLMs to reason about the mess they've put themselves in I don't know if I would have even bothered. The promise of "you can just read and learn about it yourself" has been dead for at least 10 years, but LLMs put the nail in the coffin. Linux has gone from attracting hippies to openly endorsing corporate closed-source products, something something live long enough to become the villain.