RoseMar 8

We can just do the adult check thing the usual way.

https://slrpnk.net/post/35037163

Show threadDaddleDew

The problem with that whole situation is the way the law is written the developer is the one held responsible if a child circumvents the check to access adult content. Therefore, developers will have to pay hefty fines unless they:

-1: Have a way to positively make sure the person enters their age is telling the truth; and

-2: Lock this value from being changed by the user afterwards.

One can see how incredibly problematic this is for both privacy and true ownership and control over your own machine. There is also a lot that needs to be figured out in the law such as what will happen when someone inevitably finds a way to hack the system to circumvent it. Ultimately, big tech won’t care as much about the fines because of their deep pockets but small nonprofit open source projects will be killed.

Mar 8 at 1:37pmWeb
Show threadKrafty KactusMar 8
Making the vendor culpable for a user bypassing a software lock is absurd but then again so is this entire bill.
Show threadfoodandartMar 8

This law is specifically designed to kill nonprofit-run and private software like Linux.

I do not know if that is true. Most of the political hacks writing these bills have zero understanding of computers and do not even consider Linux in the equation. They see Windows, iOS, Android and macOS.

This is more aimed at mom and dad with three children who have tablets for all the shits and take no responsibility for what the kids do with the devices.

Linux devs will just step back from releasing code packaged with installers and users will have to compile and set any given program up themselves.

I use MacPorts and Homebrew for what I need.

Show threadDaddleDewMar 8
You are correct that they have zero understanding of computers. But what you are missing is that they are consulting “experts” who are essentially just big tech lobbyists.
Show threadboboMar 8
And when you say consulting, you mean that they’ve been legally bribed with a few mils.
Show threadborariMar 10
More like a few tens of thousands.
Show threadboboMar 10
Check that again, last year meta literally broke the record for the amount spent on legal bribery in a year.
Show threadborariMar 10
Ahk, gotcha. I was referring to the fact that it only takes a few thousand to legally bribe a state representative.
Show threadboboMar 8

Most of the political hacks writing these bills have zero understanding of computers and do not even consider Linux in the equation.

Meta literally broke the record for the most legal bribery in a year over shifting the liability from platform to app store (as they’re facing tens of billions in fines). Apple and Google have been pumping tens of millions to counter it.

The political hacks are just reading what the corpos wrote for them…

Show threadSlurpingPusMar 9
These laws were apparently lobbied by Google, Meta and Palantir (according to Reddit).
Show threadMrKoyunMar 9

I’ve started to believe that in fact, the political hacks do know what is going on with tech. They just do this shit anyway… Because they are sick at heart.

I feel like it is too late. People still do not care and will never care… We’ve lost.

Show threadYardy SardleyMar 8
All of this seems impossible to enforce in the FOSS ecosystem. People can just fork the software and remove any restriction they don’t like. That’s kind of the whole point of free software. Users are free to use their devices however they like, including in ways that are not intended by the devloper.
Show threadBilb!Mar 8
You’re right. Computing devices need to be locked down in such a way that prevents consumers running software that isn’t signed by an approved/licensed software vendor owned and/or favored by an oligarch and existing general purpose computers need to be made illegal. We don’t need “hobbyist programmers” anymore, humans have no place writing code.
Show threadSlurpingPusMar 9
As usual, Cory Doctorow foresaw this fifteen years ago (transcript here).
28c3: The coming war on general computation

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