I've noticed that places like California, Colorado, and possibly Brazil are pushing for age verification laws on operating systems. As someone living in Europe who doesn't interact with these places, I'm curious about whether I would still be impacted by these changes. If I use an OS that enforces this age verification, will I be required to provide my age as well? I know that the response depends on whether certain companies choose to comply, like GrapheneOS, which has mentioned they might avoid allowing users from places with strict laws. But I'm still hoping to get some clarity on this issue.
6 Answers
Honestly, these laws probably won’t even have a real impact on people living in those regions. They might just be more of a formality than anything else.
I'm planning to set up my firewall to block any verification requests. That should keep me out of reach from these laws.
I heard that the founder of CachyOS announced they won’t implement any age verification systems, so that could be a good option if you're looking for alternatives. Plus, SystemD reportedly has no way to enforce these checks either.
This could ultimately be a decision for the EU courts. If an age verification requires ID, it might clash with privacy laws. Limited verification methods could be a different story though, so it’s still a bit murky.
Exactly! But if you're on something like Windows and they're on board with age checks, you'd likely still have to verify your age, regardless of your location.
Additionally, thinking about country selection poses a problem, as people could just claim to be from elsewhere to bypass these checks.
I think it might end up being that users will have to select their country and then the age verification will only be active based on that selection. Sadly, it seems like EU users might get dragged into this mess too.
Country selection doesn’t seem ideal either; it asks for user info that wasn't necessary before, and how can they even verify that? If it’s too easy to fake, that’d defeat the purpose.
It seems like a lot of the Linux community has already caved in and agreed to work within these new rules. It’s unfortunate to see so many so-called freedom fighters just falling in line.
That's great to hear! CachyOS seems like a solid choice for switching. Do you have a link to that announcement?