alt Hacker NewsA new California law says all operating systems need to have age verification
Comments
They want to spy on everyone. This is against freedom.
I would not know why the operating system I use would need to sniff on me - or yield that information to anyone else.
This is clearly fascism.
Maybe this is just an unsuspectedly astute way to get Microsoft to reenable local accounts?
> Assembly Bill No. 1043 was approved by California governor Gavin Newsom in October of last year, and becomes active on January 1, 2027
It was already approved? This seems wildly invasive, and CA can't even pretend they're doing it to stop porn. CA is just monitoring citizens for the love of the game
They should just outsource these types of things to our ethics API
I can't keep up with all these attacks on personal computing/libre software/the web.
- AI causing RAM/disk price shocks and shortages
- Google attempting to lock down Android
- The EeYou codifying the Google-Apple duopoly into age-verification legislation
- Age verification requirements spreading rapidly
- AI scraping meaning many sites have WAF rules set to 'max'. It's getting extremely hard to browse the internet with a VPN + privacy features such as WebGL blocking etc. Geoblocking seems to be on the rise too (eg Trenitalia, Aegean Air).
- Governments wanting backdoors on devices
- Broadband price increases (10-25% rises are being baked into annual contracts here in the UK)
It seems in 2026 they've really gone full speed ahead.
What is the future going to look like? A Government-approved Apple OR Google spying device for the things you need to exist as a citizen... and a bunch of paper books/library cards/porn mags?
It’s a shit law, but it’s publisher- and distributor-targeted, so the overly-dramatic armchair-rebels in the forum can calm themselves; nobody’s coming after the person with a Linux machine bc it’s not compliant. Because it’s a state law, Cali will have geo-fenced app stores and this’ll just accelerate the breakout from manufacturer-maintained app stores. Websites that host downloads will just have a user attestation that they’re not Californians and be hosted abroad. There’s also no verification method; it’s literally just a requirement that account creation asks for an age - something websites do all the time and is not remotely burdensome, just ask all the ones convinced my DoB is a year and 4 months after my actual.
Apparently the redacted politicians that were caught raping and murdering little boys and girls in the Epstein files are entitled to a higher level of privacy than either you or me.
Next they'll try to ban sexps without age verification.
This is Big Tech manipulating us to be against regulations on their platforms including preventing pedophilia on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. I'm still very much so in favor of regulating them. This smokescreen of a policy isn't going to confuse me.
Was there HN discussion at the time the bill was introduced / passed?
I guess California will release California OS with age verification.
make Califonia computerless. stupid politcians passing stupid laws. imagine this guy becoming president.
I thought the lefties were supposed to be the smart ones.
Waiting for BSD community maintainers reactions
These lawmakers are not even wrong.
To be wrong, one must understand what one is talking about.
Sigh.
Not sure if California is EU-lite or it has surpassed them, it sucks sometimes here, they are on a path to regulate and ruin everything.
This seems bizarre.
Define operating system.
Next it will be all devices able to run Doom.
wow that is messed up. Goodbye freedom
we will own nothing, eat le bugs and be happy
This is basically the end of the Internet as it was. It's actually quite terrifying.
Is this a weird attempt at device verification?
what about the laws that say crossing the border is illegal?
Ahh, new stupidity inbound.
Aha... Interesting, I'm the sysadmin of myself so I verify myself that I'm entitled to be root on my iron. Sometimes politicians reveal themselves in their future program dreaming things like mandatory online accounts on corporatocracty-controlled servers for all...
China did this 15 year ago..Fuck yeah, America
It's getting to be time for tech firms to leave California.
I'm a law and order kind of guy, but this nonsense should probably be ignored.
Extremely stupid that this will fall on the OS.
Accomplishes three things: Demonizes age verification, big tech gets to dodge it, cedes more control of your PC.
I wonder if that applies to the minix-derived operating system that’s running inside the intel management engine on intel cpus.
(I’m being sarcastic of course)
Trump - making heroic efforts to give Newsom the presidency in 2028. Newsom valiantly resisting those efforts.
Make California the first society that goes back into a pre-technology era.
Many of you commenting haven't read the legislation and it shows.
Can't wait to have to prove to AWS I'm 18 before launching a server.
And I'll have to give a fake ID to our automated CI pipelines, I guess.
Mr. AI analyzed the wording in the link and said:
California Assembly Bill 1043 requires OS providers (including Linux) to add age verification at account setup, prompting users for birth date/age to signal age brackets to apps in covered stores. It may violate privacy by enabling data collection/misuse beyond age checks, similar to UK/Discord issues; no explicit civil rights violations noted, but could restrict access for adults/minors if misapplied. Benefits: Enables age-appropriate app content, protecting minors. Drawbacks: Privacy risks, enforcement hurdles (e.g., Linux disclaimers like "not for California use"), aligns with global trends amplifying concerns.
An updated deep dive by Mr. AI returned the following analysis:
Official link: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm... Revised pros: Enhances child safety via non-PII age brackets for app compliance; data minimization limits info shared; anticompetitive prohibitions prevent misuse; good faith shields from liability. Revised cons: Setup requires age input, risking misuse despite safeguards; enforcement challenges for open-source OS like Linux; increased developer liability for signals; potential access restrictions from errors or misreports. No clear privacy/civil rights violations for adults/minors, but implementation costs and global trend concerns persist.
My thoughts: California lawmakers keep turning the screw more and more to the left with AB 1043 being introduced by Democrat Buffy Wicks. Though it has bipartisan co-authors (8 Democrats, 3 Republicans) and passed the Assembly unanimously (58-0), it still feels a bit authoritarian to me. The California Assembly political divide is very left leaning with Democrats controlling 60 seats and Republicans 20 for a total of 80 with Democrats controlling a supermajority.
What's to stop someone from building their own Distro using LinuxFromScratch to bypass this new restriction? Nothing, in my view!
Which I had money cause, Florida looking good about now.
One could cope that this regulation can not apply to Linux or other OSS operating systems. But this is only true unless the bootloaders on consumer devices are mandated to be closed next.
We already have Secure Boot, the infrastructure is in place. It is currently optional, but a law like this can change that.
Stuff like this just makes the anti-woke gang look more reasonable.
Not enjoying this verification can future
Linux doesn't care. We've already been down this road with media codecs and patents. Let every other OS continue their path to enshittifcation.
You know the non-governmental organization "Save the Children"? Maybe it's time to create a new one called "Fuck the Children" to defend people from these laws designed to mine privacy under the pretense of protecting minors.
Boo.
RIP freedos
What a great plot for a Black Mirror episode. Oh wait, it’s real life.
You hear that, NetBSD!
Buffy Wicks obviously should not be legislating APIs. But I think it's funny how badly this misinterprets the situation. The local user account on a computer has never been less relevant than it is today.
There is sudden concern with teenager's safety