Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint Eye Age Verification Amid California Law Backlash
Related: A new California law says all operating systems, including Linux, need to have some form of age verification at account setup (PC Gamer)
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Source: 9to5Linux
Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint Eye Age Verification Amid California Law Backlash
The upcoming law mandates that OS providers and application developers implement age verification measures to protect minors online.
by Marcus Nestor
March 4th, 2026
A Digital Age Assurance Act law (AB 1043) in California, US, effective January 1st, 2027, requires operating systems to ask users to input their birth date during the initial setup to follow child privacy rules.
The upcoming law mandates that OS providers and application developers implement age verification measures to protect minors online, which includes collecting age information during account setup and providing age bracket signals to devs when apps are downloaded.
Earlier this week, Ubuntu developer Aaron Rainbolt proposed on the Ubuntu mailing list an optional D-Bus interface (org.freedesktop.AgeVerification1) that can be implemented by arbitrary applications as a distro sees fit, but Canonical responded today that the company does not yet have a solution to announce for age declaration in Ubuntu.
“Canonical is aware of the legislation and is reviewing it internally with legal counsel, but there are currently no concrete plans on how, or even whether, Ubuntu will change in response,” said Jon Seager, VP Engineering at Canonical. “The recent mailing list post is an informal conversation among Ubuntu community members, not an announcement. While the discussion contains potentially useful ideas, none have been adopted or committed to by Canonical.”
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Read more: https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-fedora-linux-mint-eye-age-verification-amid-california-law-backlash
= new reply since forum marked as read
Are they going to arrest people who download or build operating systems that either don't have or spoof this "feature?"
Maybe they can remove children from the homes of parents and guardians who allow their children to use electronic devices registered to adults. It's not implausible. Similar things were done to the First Peoples of America and Australia, and are still happening worldwide.
Sigh. We're already living in a world where most people don't actually own the electronic devices they've paid for.
However this is implemented it won't be to "protect the children." It will be a way for corporations to defend their own unethical behavior by claiming they are following the letter of the law.
I've got a sweet TAILS iso for you that you can boot up on your government-approved surveillance computer that leaves no traces.
Otherwise, meet me under my gazebo for a gentoo class on building and compiling your own operating system and apps from source code.
Source code is not an operating system and source code is not an app and you are not a provider of either.
In a time of "Age verification is a backdoor way of outing "undesirable" libs, LBGTQ+, immigrants, women, people of color (smile so the government(1) can see you)", we go underground.
Viva Underground Linux! Viva the underground TAILroad!
(1) Government agents are here to serve you (up) 24 by 7 by 365: Apple, Microsoft, Google, TwiXtter, Meta, and so on ...
Here is the list of "unmutual" people you requested, Sire.
PROPOSITION 8, banning same-sex marriages, was later found unconstitutional and overturned by voters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_California_Proposition_8
Get me some petition papers.