nixCraft 🐧Ubuntu Linux is planning to comply with Age Verification law.
On the unfortunate need for an "age verification" API for legal compliance reasons in some U.S. states
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2026-March/043510.html
Here is how they can make it user friendly for those who lives outside those states:
cat /etc/age-verification.conf
#Enabled=On|True|1
#Enabled=Off|False|0
This needs to be configured at first boot or install time. Please note that the nature of opensource makes it next to impossible to do something like this.
Florian Judith@nixCraft They could probably tie it to the selected country during the installation...
I'm curious to know how the server OS will behave...
ferricoxide
gunstick
Lea@nixCraft
For anyone forced to do it, we should all put in January 1, 1970.
https://www.utctimestamp.com/story/unix-epoch.html
For anyone forced to do it, we should all put in January 1, 1970.
https://www.utctimestamp.com/story/unix-epoch.html
Olav Smørholm@nixCraft that's s hilarious, have they on how to implement this in embedded systems revolving doors needs the support, someone may even need it with RFID checks. Really wished they limited this to things that run OP-TEE or equivalent. It's like building in, "they lied on age", get out of jail free card through mandated regulations. We don't under age or minors, the revolving door running ubuntu guarantees it, breaking laws in the process that has presedens with document fraud.
Sassinake!@nixCraft will this reach downstream Mint?
or upstream Debian (does it still exist?)
noahm@Sassinake @nixCraft Debian is discussing it and will likely comply as well.
Derpi 
@Sassinake @nixCraft Seeing as if they don't they face $7500 per violation, their hands are tied at this point. People are blaming the developers when they cannot do anything about it. These walking dinosaurs need to be removed from power and replaced with people who actually understand technology and why this is a terrible idea.
Pete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫@DerpDerpington @Sassinake @nixCraft
Canonical is a company doing business in the US. It can be coerced. Sucks to be them.
But "developers" is anyone anywhere in the world with source code and a C compiler. They cannot.
@petealexharris @Sassinake @nixCraft If they want to continue to be allowed in the US and soon the EU, they absolutely will.
@DerpDerpington @Sassinake @nixCraft
Allowed (or not) how? I don't care if I'm allowed in the US. Even if I did, I could compile a patched kernel module and nobody would know. All this is doing is giving people who post "become ungovernable" memes an easy warm-up exercise to start *meaning* it.
Allowed (or not) how? I don't care if I'm allowed in the US. Even if I did, I could compile a patched kernel module and nobody would know. All this is doing is giving people who post "become ungovernable" memes an easy warm-up exercise to start *meaning* it.
Maya@petealexharris @DerpDerpington @Sassinake @nixCraft Exactly. I'd be willing to bet money that if the legally mandated spyware at OS level becomes a thing, which it won't, there'll be easy to use scripts for recompiling your favorite distro without it available overnight. Probably thousands of them.
@petealexharris @Sassinake @nixCraft With that you would be fine. However if people want to use a pre built OS that has a certain amount of users, then they will be forced to do it. I myself am gonna use tails with tor. Knowing tails, they are gonna tell them to eat shit.
Privacy is a fucking HUMAN RIGHT, and includes anonymity.
@Sassinake @nixCraft I agree 100%, and we need more people to advocate for it. We are literally becoming what China is at this point. Nobody is going to be able to do anything without them knowing. Next they go for physical money.
Seb 🇺🇦
Joonq@docteurslump @nixCraft for now until governments start to stricten and stricten these laws
mistersmee@nixCraft
Someone from Canonical clarified this stuff, at least a little bit. They're still looking into the ramifications with the legal team, and the post on the mailing list is that developer's opinion, and not Canonical's official stance.
Source: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntus-response-to-californias-digital-age-assurance-act-ab-1043/77948
Someone from Canonical clarified this stuff, at least a little bit. They're still looking into the ramifications with the legal team, and the post on the mailing list is that developer's opinion, and not Canonical's official stance.
Source: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntus-response-to-californias-digital-age-assurance-act-ab-1043/77948
Ubuntu's response to California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043)
Over the past couple of days, there has been a lot of commentary about Ubuntu and how it’ll respond to California’s new Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), which will require operating systems to collect age information at account setup and expose an age “signal” to eligible applications from 2027. 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. The recen...
God Emperor of Mastodon@nixCraft I'm shocked that it's not a systemd module
Martin Hamilton@mms @nixCraft UEFI age verification game has entered the chat
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/09/play-games-in-uefi-to-access-your-computer/
@nixCraft
Wish I could even say "pathway to hell is paved with good intentions," but there are zero good intentions behind these efforts. This is all part of an effort to de-anonymize the Internet pushed through the Trojan Horse of "protect children" (haven't heard the other common rubric, "fight terrorism," used for these efforts).
Wish I could even say "pathway to hell is paved with good intentions," but there are zero good intentions behind these efforts. This is all part of an effort to de-anonymize the Internet pushed through the Trojan Horse of "protect children" (haven't heard the other common rubric, "fight terrorism," used for these efforts).
Steph à vélo"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.
The recent mailing list post is an informal conversation among Ubuntu community members, not an announcement."
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2026-March/043534.html
Ubuntu's response to California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043)
Over the past couple of days, there has been a lot of commentary about Ubuntu and how it’ll respond to California’s new Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), which will require operating systems to collect age information at account setup and expose an age “signal” to eligible applications from 2027. 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. The recen...
Ingonymous@ingonymous @nixCraft Not anymore, more and more kids are moving to Linux now. My nephew is 10, seen my distro and said he wants that. Will be installing it for him next week lol.
Jonathan Hartley@ingonymous my 13yo built his own Linux gaming PC last Christmas
Kevin RussellIt appears to be a discussion not an announcement of a decision. Am I missing something? In replies another suggests banningntje use of canonical in those states for example.
It is authoritarianism plain and dimple, it is the end of privacy and the first amendment, its a brain implant from Musk.
Fuck California Dems. Throw them out at primaries. 1st Amendment Dems, New Deal Dems. Start the removal.
Get organised.
rsp
Jan
Gentleman Technologist@nixCraft utterly pointless because anyone can lie about their age.
But then I guess that’s the point. First they make us lie about it. Then they say “too many people are lying about their age so we have to do ID checks” and then it’s “we need to tie the ID check to everything you do online”
Meanwhile the actual crooks have run rings round the whole system and stolen someone else’s identity.
Result: everyone is less safe but “something was done about the kids looking at pron”
Rhew
catraxx 
Jonathan Kamens 86 47@nixCraft as noted in https://masto.bike/@stephavelo/116171037808417595 , the statement in your post is not accurate. Please update your post to correct the misinformation or take it down.
Steph à vélo (@[email protected])
@[email protected] "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. The recent mailing list post is an informal conversation among Ubuntu community members, not an announcement." https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntus-response-to-californias-digital-age-assurance-act-ab-1043/77948 https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2026-March/043534.html
Francisca Sinn
Thibaultmol 🌈@nixCraft oh, I thought this was a joke...
@nixCraft So many people in this thread picking on Ubuntu for this, but it’s certainly not limited to them, or even just to commercial distros. Here’s the #Debian discussion on the matter. https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/03/msg00016.html
Yes, this requirement is bullshit. No, pretending it doesn’t exist is not a viable response.
Wassil
schrotthaufen@nixCraft They don’t know if they’ll do anything at all: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntus-response-to-californias-digital-age-assurance-act-ab-1043/77948
Ubuntu's response to California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043)
Over the past couple of days, there has been a lot of commentary about Ubuntu and how it’ll respond to California’s new Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), which will require operating systems to collect age information at account setup and expose an age “signal” to eligible applications from 2027. 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. The recen...
ROTOPE~1 ⭐️@nixCraft pretty wild how *somebody* has all of this shovel-ready legislation ready to ram through the moment there is the distraction of another war.
Love living in an age where things get a little worse day by day, except for the days where things get a lot worse. You can always count on things not getting better, freedoms always contracting. Wheee
🌱🏴🅰️🏳️⚧️🐧🔧📎 AmbiyelpHow about we make arch install scripts more user friendly, can't regulate the OS if its distributed in parts right?
@ambiguous_yelp @nixCraft Yeah, that as something I was thinking about. How are they gonna govern something like Arch or Gentoo? Or even LFS? But then again they are targeting distros with a certain amount of users. How much users I don't know exactly. This could be a decent grey area.
No matter how authoritarian the laws get there will always be a line to toe: and in toeing that line you will elicit 1 of 2 responses from the state:
1. Overpolice and lose public legitimacy
2. Underpolice and the law itself is undermined
AvocaWhat, and destroy Arch's fanboy status?
nieuemma@ambiguous_yelp @nixCraft I've used the "archinstall" tool ever since I first learned it existed. Just a menu to go through and select what I want.
Kawazoe@ambiguous_yelp @nixCraft "We are not an operating system provider. We only provide the tool for a user to generate one on demand using their own specifications. The tool is fundamentally incapable of enforcing any specification on its own." Is a pretty based answer to laws like this one.
Person Who Exists@nixCraft I imagine it will get implemented as some xdg desktop portal shit with an accompanying web api. But I also fear that if you were to not comply with it, you would end up like a browser without chrome in its ua. In a completely different world of older technology and issues.
@nixCraft system wide age could work...
Imagine: if it would be forbidden to track users below 18 or to show them ads.
Everyone will put a low age into the API.
But then the interesting stuff becomes unavailable.
That may incite people not to lie about the age.
Maybe.
I will put maxint into the age field and see the servers burn down.
Imagine: if it would be forbidden to track users below 18 or to show them ads.
Everyone will put a low age into the API.
But then the interesting stuff becomes unavailable.
That may incite people not to lie about the age.
Maybe.
I will put maxint into the age field and see the servers burn down.