OCTADE
SILENCE IS DEAFENING
"While the [age verification] bill moved through the legislature, the OSI, FSF, Software Freedom Conservancy, and Linux Foundation all sat it out — no testimony, no public analysis, no formal opposition on the record."
Are the adults listening?

California's computer age verification law is poison. The new California age verification law is a version of INGSOC's telescreen watching you. And the usual self-proclaimed software freedom fighters are AWOL as this attack on your freedom is executed.

Don't listen to apologists who claim this isn't a big deal. It is a huge deal. This law is not about protecting children. The California law is a ruse for laying the foundation and precedent for mandatory remote control of all operating systems. They are using children as a shield for their true intentions. It's called a 'subterfuge' or a 'pretext' to hide the real rationale. And in politics subterfuge is very common. These politicians don't care about your children. They care about control and information is control. Compliance with California's new law is highly corrosive to free software and deadly to personal privacy.

With the mandatory age verification API in place, legislators can later add more laws mandating retrieval of even more privacy-invasive information just to install and use any operating system. This is Big Brother's telescreen in your living room. And the Linux community is nearly silent on the matter, instead focused on artificial intelligence investment.

Where were the software freedom organizations when California was mandating installation of #spyware in all free and open source operating systems? Did they oppose it? Or did they support it by silence? The California age verification law is the greatest threat to software freedom in recent history., striking right at the root of software installation for all users. Yet (((crickets))).

Is silence really tacit support?
"While the [age verification] bill moved through the legislature, the OSI, FSF, Software Freedom Conservancy, and Linux Foundation all sat it out — no testimony, no public analysis, no formal opposition on the record."
[https://boingboing.net/2026/03/02/californias-age-verification-law-could-regulate-every-linux-command.html]

Where were they when this mandatory spyware infrastructure was being shoved down our throats? Where were the self-proclaimed software freedom fighters? Where were the calls to action? I didn't see any.

Is silence golden ... or is gold buying silence?

Let these organizations know that you oppose California's age verification spyware law and that you expect them to rally in defense of true software freedom--freedom from government oversight of your software systems. Parents--and not the spyware state--should protect their children. The government is neither your parent nor your god nor your savior and the people should send a clear message stating that.

California, stay out of my operating system! And stay the hell away from children!

@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]

#AgeVerification #Linux #EFF #OSI #LinuxFoundation #FSF #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Surveillance #Spyware #OpenSource #OperatingSystems #FreeSoftware #SoftwareFreedom #Panopticon #BigBrother #Government

CC: @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
Mar 4 at 1:13pmWeb
Show threadBlender Dumbass ( J.Y.Amihud )Mar 4

@octade @eff @linuxfoundation @fsf @osi @conservancy @laffer1 @leo @MichaelRoss @rms @thenewoil @TechDesk @remixtures

I wrote a breakdown of the law.

Show threadLeaMar 4

@octade

I hope these laws will get challenged and thrown out, but that takes time and may not work. I figure there will always be distros we can get from other countries, but what about the hardware?

Just like with UEFI, we were fortunate it was made so we could disable it in the BIOS, otherwise all distros would have to beg for a certificate from Microsoft which for some reason has control over them.

If the hardware manufacturers go along with these ID laws, all they would have to do would be to make it so UEFI can't be disabled, then we could only boot an OS that has certification. I also won't be surprised if they'll have something in the firmware that bypasses the OS entirely and reports to whoever.

Now say none of that happens, hardware is still fine, and we can still use our Linux distro as normal. Depending on what laws they pass, we could still be locked out of the internet. It could be made partially or totally inaccessible to devices that don't report ID info. It could be done either at the website/server level, or more likely our ISPs themselves could be made to block access from device that doesn't provide our ID info.

And it won't stop with just age, more and more ID data will be required to be reported, and our activity logged.