Hell, if only they made Linux open source so that we could change anything we didn’t like about the age verification stuff.
And be denied access to services
Yes, freedom requires giving up some things.
If a service requires it they are not worth using.
is this hyperbole or is that actually a thing?
Tl;Dr: is that age verification laws are being pushed heavily, and Linux users are strongly against that sorta stuff. Most developers openly say they won’t comply, thus their software is in violation.
Sir, this is a meme community
nowdays you never know
Is a bit hyperbole at the moment, where the concrete lawd are basically “os asks user for age on honor system and relays that to websites”. Linux distros can add that without much real controversy.
Proven is some are seeking laws that require the os to actually verify age, which in practice means locking things behind something like a Google account and having an online account vendor process your real identity and really validate your age. Under such a regime, Linux desktop as it exists today becomes infeasible. Also Microsoft can say they absolutely cannot allow local accounts anymore by law and force Microsoft accounts…
When Linux becomes illegal, only outlaws will run Linux.
The only way to stop a bad guy with Linux is with a good guy with Linux
I am curious how they will ask for ID for each IOT devices ? Does a ring 0 micro linux need an ID before loading th OS ?
When Linux becomes illegal the internet ceases to exist. Show me 1 Windows or Mac powered network switch, router, edge firewall you’ve ever known. I’ll wait
Aren’t they mostly based on some sort of BSD (at least the smaller ones)? Would probably still not be legal in that scenario but I gotta be pedantic…
oh they’ll put a clause that allows for that, but only if it’s made in America and has a locked down bootloader…
Just realized that would mean FLOCK dies. -several thousand downsides, but that- THAT would be an upside.
You assume Flock was ever legal in the first place
National security concerns 😊
Laws are for the poor, they don’t apply to the rich.
Also, Android and Chrome OS are Linux distros.
Come join my outlaw gang. We have pie.
Pi. Raspberry pi.
My raspberry pi is a wifi hotspot. Its SSID is CreamPi
I will make the raspberry pie.
More of a reason to use Linux. Fuck the tyrants.
Jokes on them. I’m a pirate who likes Linux.
Arrgh! Me matey! It’s off to Antarctica with us, then! Penguins ho!
Governments can’t even effectively tackle drugs, illegal weapons or CSAM. Gl making something as distributed as linux illegal.
At least in the US there’s precedent that source code is protected speech, so we may see the year of the Gentoo desktop.
sigh LinuxFromScratch desktop evenually? See yall on the other side guys, good luck to us all (we’ll need it TT)
Compiled code ought to be too then tbh.
“When I go to [do normal, totally uncontroversial thing]… and [nonsensical catastrophe that I made up in my head happens].”
There are a lot of bills that threaten privacy and could, if taken to a logical conclusion, result in the criminalizaion of open-source operating systems. This isn’t as nonsensical as it was ten years ago. I think it’s still very unlikely, but it’s been moved into the realm of “reasonable possibility.”
Finally torrenting linux ISO’s will no longer work as an euphemism for pirating.
Torrenting “LLM training data”
I seed so Gen Ai can reach AGI sooner! /s
Has that been considered working?
then you move to gentoo, BSD or retro computing using existing cds/floppies/usbs
They can pry it out of my solid state drives 😤
Unwise invite.
Then I’ll die an outlaw
No it’s not.
I hear the latest efforts (mainly from the System76 guy) to counter bad bills about age verification/attestation have brought amendments to exempt open source operating systems, in at least one jurisdiction.
So the pedo-cabal’s plan to protect our children (by doxing them), has a gaping hole in it.
Oh however will the pedo-cabal manage to protect our children now?
:3
Yeah they’ll drop this as soon as they realise The Dreaded Kali Linux Hacker OS System is open source tbh. First cyber attack, they’ll realise they didnt know the owner of the malicious device’s age, cry on TV then amend the law to include it.
Meanwhile the number of school shootings will remain the same, foster care systems will be underfunded, but the children will be rendered safe.
Remind me, if everyone is a child until proven otherwise as implemented by discord etc, are they still allowed to collect my data when I dont age verify? Can I sue them for collecting what could have been a toddlers information as they couldn’t possibly have known I wasn’t one?
Its all so fucking stupid.
They can’t really make linux illegal. They’ll make selling devices without age verification illegal. Essentially making selling devices with an OS that doesn’t play ball illegal.
Just means we will have to wipe the preinstalled OS, as is already the custom. Also means there will likely be efforts to lock down consumer devices similar to how Android OEMs make it difficult to impossible to unlock the bootloader
They can’t make it illegal, but with a little frog-boiling, they can make it functionally useless for visiting websites you might need to use. No identity verification = no access, and Linux = no identity verification.
I’m certain a “John Doe” false identity signature would be trivial to create.
Not if they use cryptographic signing.
Browser sends website the signed identity verification, then the website checks the signature against some key in a list of trusted identity verifiers. With the verification responsibility being pushed to the OS vendors, that will be a short list of tech megacorporations. And maybe Canonical or Red Hat, if we’re lucky.
Indeed, but wouldn’t the inevitable database breach give ample “identities” for anonymous users to cycle through (similar to aurora for play store infrastructure)?
To be clear, the circumstances are not good and ideally this destructive behavior is averted, but there will be maneuvers which can be taken if worst comes to worst.
Good point. I’m not keen on personally comitting fraud, but with the inevitable data breaches in mind, identity verification would do absolutely nothing to deter malicious actors.
