Apparently this will include Linux…
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Doesn’t even make sense. Virtually all Linux distros can function completely offline. How do you do age verification completely offline? Classic politician who doesn’t understand tech trying to look like they’re doing something to save the kids.
“At þe account creation screen” þe WHAT NOW? ah yes cause linux definitely has an account creation screen. Could be a loophole
of all the shit out there, that’s what needed attention?!
Curious for what it’s a distraction, eh?
Define “Operating System”…
I guess my washing machine & car are also going to be “not for use in California.”
Those Cisco switches & Broadcom DSLAMs would be tricky too … I guess the internet’s “not for use in California.”
And the air-gapped power station control system? “not for use in California.”
It is annoying that these laws come in (I’m also including magical thinking about encryprion backdoors for “the good guys”) without any form of real-world, practical assessment. Complete waste of tax payers money and undue stress for everyone.
FFS.
Imagine you’re not allowed to use your washing machine if you’re under 18.
Sorry but I don’t think the article text backs up the title?
The claim is that they have to enforce age verification, but the quoted law says:
Provide an accessible interface at account setup that requires an account holder to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device for the purpose of providing a signal regarding the user’s age bracket to applications available in a covered application store.
Doesn’t this just mean it needs to ask for an age at setup, so e.g. parents can set it up with an age and they can automatically be restricted?
I don’t see anywhere actual verification is required, if you’re setting it up yourself then just lie?
Honestly, this sounds like my preferred path if we are gonna do anything.
And I don’t understand, because windows already does this and has for years. I don’t live in California though, so I don’t know the particular nuances they are asking for.
The problem is, and has always been, getting parents to use the tools. So unless you’re sending parents to jail for not doing this, then it’s totally optional and most won’t use it.
If you want screentime limits, content filters, browsing history, restricted programs, age verification, wallet control, friends list filters, etc. It exists and is available on Windows and Xbox for free.
I think the next bit from the article I didn’t quote explains that:
“(2) Provide a developer who has requested a signal with respect to a particular user with a digital signal via a reasonably consistent real-time application programming interface that identifies, at a minimum, which of the following categories pertains to the user.” The categories are broken into four sections: users under 13 years of age, over 13 years of age under 16, at least 16 years of age and under 18, and “at least 18 years of age.”
I think the idea is that you would say that under 16s can’t use social media. Then you’d enforce this not with the horrendous Australian strategy of having everyone IDed, but instead you would enforce it by having an API that websites and apps could use that would tell them the age of the user.
So basically:
- Parent sets up device for kid and sets their age.
- Kid tries to download Facebook app
- Gets denied because they are under age
- Kid tries to go to facebook website instead
- Website sends request to browser for user’s age, browser asks Windows (or whatever OS) for age and provides this age back to Facebook
- Facebook denies access because user is under age
Windows might already have parental controls within Windows, but it’s the ability for apps and websites to know the age (or in this case age range) that is the important part.
I much prefer this than handing over ID.
I agree. This doesn’t seem any more egregious than clicking a button on a website that says “I am over 18”.
Which website is that?
The one with naked people on it.
Do You Have the Slightest Idea How Little That Narrows It Down?
Wait, there is more than one?
Holy shit west is fallen 🥀
Let that sink in.
What ?
That’s a wash basin
Seriously, please let that sink in! I desperately need my plumber to fix that sink once and for all
The way this is written, it would just be a case of entering your age or DOB at account creation, which wouldn’t be so bad. Indeed, this would be the kind of parent-empowering solution I’d like to see, since it kind of assumes the admin of a device (who sets up user accounts) is an adult who will enter the correct info for their kids.
Of course, there’s always the concern they might try to push for adding 3rd party age attestation after the fact, with this being the thin end of the wedge. And it’d be a bit of a pain for the various linux distros to organise a compliant solution even IF it’s just adding a new parameter to useradd and the associated “age signal” API for applications to query.
That’s what it sounds to me. You just have to enter a date of birth, which I think puts parents in control of this, rather than shady websites.
Something that I, as a parent, really miss, is the ability to have some parental control without having to subject myself to horrifically broken systems like those from Microsoft and Google, which are just painful to use and don’t offer any meaningful control. Minecraft has become almost impossible to use lately, and apparently it’s going to get even worse.
More applications should have a simple child mode that connects it to a parent mode that allows the parent to keep an eye on what their kid is doing and enable or disable some features for them, but instead, they make it impossible to create an account, and if you do, you’ve got an account that can’t do anything. It’s broken and stupid and shouldn’t be so difficult.
Maybe Linux could set a better example in this.
associated “age signal” API for applications to query.
I’d just add an environment variable.
Nothing more required.I suspect something the nonprivileged user can effortlessly change would be deemed insufficient. :P
The user needs to tell the system what their age is, so if I get up and a 15yo sits on the computer, they need to change the environment variable before starting any program.
No need for higher privs.In every OS I know of including linux, you need admin/su rights to create a user account. If the age is tied to the account that at least prevents tampering without admin/su access.
But does the law require that?
From the interpretations I have seen, it doesn’t even require real verification, just a way to tell the app, the age of the user.
But… but it’s for the safety of children. /s
Fucking morons.
Not morons, just lying to achieve a different agenda.
“Lets fight ICE” also “you need an id to use your laptop and be verifed by big tech to use it” Worse then clowns. Fucking traitors
I see a dipshit lib, I downvote. Fuck this guy.
turns on VPN
Oh no, anyways.
If they’re ever ignorant enough to ban VPNs we’ll be fucked.
Fucking stupid. What now, everyone adds a script to enter 04/01/1984 for every continuous integration pipeline? Every kubernetes cluster has to include an age automation? Idiot politicians should not draft policies about shit they have no clue about.
Politician: The lowest form of life on earth (lower than slime mold… sorry for insulting slime mold).
They produce nothing of value, never have and never will, true sociopaths, total liars, elitest narsacistc parasites and oxygen wasters and generally evil…
I wish one could implement “mental-age verification”. That way almost all politicians on Earth would be blocked from important technologies.
Put the square peg in the square hole.
All this age verification crap. Where is the fucking parents? I get that big tech has some responsability in all this. But how about we just make the responsible choice, of not letting a 8 year old near tiktok forinstance? Oh, it is just another excuse for private survailance you say? I see, I see…
As usual, the solution is education. Parental education needs to be prioritized imo. That said, I have no idea how we would implement such a thing. Most likely better general education would help at least.
I’m a parent and legit think that majority of parents should not have been parents and have no minimum required skill to raise a human being. It’s sad because it’s really not that hard but most people don’t think a day ahead when raising their kids and just follow a “vibe”, so spending a weekend on parental controls is an insurmountable task.
I’m not a parent and wish there was some kind of minimum requirement.
“Won’t anyone think of the cHiLdReN?!”
Gavin Newsom is such a fucking tool.
Hope he dies true to his ideals: From a heart attack right next to an AED machine, which promptly refused to operate because he wasn’t able to verify his age.
Tbf every single politician is.
