Isabel Ruffell3d ago

OK this is a stupid question, but why have Linux projects (apparently) fallen over themselves to comply with an age-recording statute in a single US state (albeit a large one), when those projects have been failing for decades to respect national and even international law regarding disability?

#accessibility #disability #linux #FreeSoftware #fascism #AgeVerification #infantilism

Show threadAntónio Manuel Dias3d ago

@iaruffell

Because it's not a single state, not even a single country. I think this video about systemd is elucidating:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5AcreFk40U

Watch until the end, because the last message is important.

#systemd #linux #ageverification

We Need To Talk About The Systemd Birth Date Situation

YouTube
Show threadIsabel Ruffell3d ago

@ammdias

I thought the Colorado situation was ongoing. But that doesn't invalidate my point that some statutes are given rapid attention and others, which are designed to help minorities are not.

Oh, and at the risk of being snarky, I note with amusement that a response to a point about accessibility is a youtube video. Honey, it is wasted on me.

Show threadNicole Parsons3d ago

@iaruffell @ammdias

These age-verification laws are getting promoted by Meta, in their ongoing efforts to evade culpability for content moderation & to eliminate privacy as a civil right.
https://www.gadgetreview.com/reddit-user-uncovers-who-is-behind-metas-2b-lobbying-for-invasive-age-verification-tech

https://fortune.com/2026/03/02/social-media-companies-age-verification-addiction-privacy-concerns/

https://thedeepdive.ca/who-pushes-age-verification-bills/

Meta never abided by child protection laws before. Why now?
https://archive.is/ZyajL

https://winbuzzer.com/2026/03/18/reddit-user-uncovers-meta-2b-lobbying-age-verification-xcxwbn/

They want to be able to sell ads adjacent to CSAM content for the Epstein Class & not face the type of repercussions ...

1/

Reddit User Uncovers Who Is Behind Meta’s $2B Lobbying for Invasive Age Verification Tech

Meta funneled $2B through nonprofit shells to push age verification laws targeting Apple and Google while exempting its own platforms from surveillance requirements.

Gadget Review
Show threadIsabel Ruffell3d ago

@Npars01 @ammdias

Certainly. But that doesn't address my question about the readiness of FLOSS to comply in one case and not the other.

Privacy is enshrined in Article 8 of ECHR, which is a bit harder to undo, although the right in the UK are now intent on leaving (for other reasons).

Show threadNicole Parsons3d ago

@iaruffell @ammdias

My guess?

Linux developers may have patrons that they don't want to irritate.

My observation is that swift unemployment in a day job follows when a FOSS developer fails to fall in line.

@ tante@ tldr.nettime.org is just one example I can cite.

Age verification is getting unprecedented levels of support from funded mass malign influence campaigns.

Show threadBen Ramsey3d ago
@Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias The Linux Foundation has some pretty big corporate patrons.
Show threadBen Ramsey3d ago

@Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias I note that Meta is among their supporters.

I just went to their website, and the first thing you see is this blurb saying, “The Linux Foundation is a neutral, trusted hub for developers and organizations to code, manage, and scale open technology projects and ecosystems.”

NEUTRAL!
NEUTRAL!

Tell me you’re beholden to your corporate overlords without telling me you’re beholden to your corporate overlords.

Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.2d ago
@ramsey @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias Critical thinking detected. 👍
Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.8h ago
@ramsey @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias Meanwhile, some of us are writing #freesoftware https://people.freebsd.org/~bms/devsummit/bms-devsummit-2026.pdf
Show threadBen Ramsey7h ago
@bms48 @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias Is it standard practice in the FreeBSD community for all development proposals to be presented as formally as this one (i.e., like an academic paper)?
Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.7h ago
@ramsey @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias When there are commercial backers with skin in the game as well as other PhD folk involved, it is a matter of respect and professionalism. Also I fired up LyX with the IEEE Conference template for the first time in 10 years and said to myself "It' F**king avin it!" Proudly made in Argyll & Bute, Scotland
Show threadBen Ramsey7h ago
@bms48 @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias I personally love the formality. I wish other communities had a bit more of that, especially with regard to researching their proposals.
Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.7h ago
@ramsey @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias It is an academic tradition dating back to 4.2BSD and earlier at UC Berkeley CSRG. I followed the Berkeley way, ended up living and working there in 2004-05, I ended up being Sam Leffler and Bill Fenner's protege by choice, but I put the work in, scored my ICSI staff fellowship, then I aimed for the multicast code bounty for which Apple took the code, that got me into St Andrews on Cisco URP for PhD with a middling 1st degree. Other than that I'm self made...
Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.
@ramsey @Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias The age verification question for FreeBSD is tricky though. Traditionally it has been a server OS, so arguably excluded, but there is a strong initiative at the #FreeBSDFoundation to drive more desktop use. I am using Ubuntu at the moment but it actually lags behind FreeBSD on KDE support. I use it mainly so I can use netlab from ipspace.net (which I've yet to start with in anger) and NVidia CUDA compute support for the onboard RTX 500. That may change...
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