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Age Verification Laws Are Multiplying Like a Virus, and Your Linux Computer Might be Next
Quoting: Age Verification Laws Are Multiplying Like a Virus, and Your Linux Computer Might be Next —
As of today, about half of all U.S. states have some form of age verification law around. Nine of those were passed in 2025 alone, covering everything from adult content sites to social media platforms to app stores.
Right now, California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) is all the rage right now, which targets not only websites and apps but also operating systems. Come January 1, 2027, every OS provider must collect a user's age at account setup and provide that data to app developers via a real-time API.
Colorado is also working on a near-identical bill, which we covered earlier.
Another one from It's FOSS:
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How Linux and BSD Distros Are Responding to the New Age Verification Laws
The US states of California, Colorado and Illinois are passing new age verification laws that require operating systems, including Linux and BSD distributions, to implement age attestation during account setup and provide an API for apps to query user age brackets.
This is 'intended to help' apps filter content for minors, but it relies on self-reported ages without mandatory ID checks. Similar proposals exist in New York and Brazil.
While enforcement on community-driven distros remains unclear, several have begun addressing the laws through compliance planning, rejection, or exclusion strategies.
Here's the situation so far.