From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law>

*California introduces age verification law for all operating systems, including Linux and SteamOS rCo user age verified during OS account setup*

AB 1043 also requires OS providers to pipe a real-time age checker to
every app developer who requests it.

California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), signed by Governor
Gavin Newsom in October 2025, requires every operating system provider
in California to collect age information from users at account setup and transmit that data to app developers via a real-time API, with the law
taking effect on January 1, 2027.

...

Enforcement against Linux distributions, however, is likely to be
problematic. Distros like Arch, Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo have no
centralized account infrastructure, with users downloading ISOs from
mirrors worldwide, and can modify source code freely. These small
distros lack legal teams or resources to implement the required API, so
a more realistic outcome for non-compliant distros is a disclaimer that
the software is not intended for use in California.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On 2/03/2026 8:41 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law>

*California introduces age verification law for all operating systems, including Linux and SteamOS rCo user age verified during OS account setup*

AB 1043 also requires OS providers to pipe a real-time age checker to
every app developer who requests it.

California's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), signed by Governor
Gavin Newsom in October 2025, requires every operating system provider
in California to collect age information from users at account setup and transmit that data to app developers via a real-time API, with the law taking effect on January 1, 2027.

So California itself doesn't need the information, just they need it to
be provided to the Devs!!

Really??
--
Daniel70
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From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On Mon, 2 Mar 2026 10:41:53 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

Enforcement against Linux distributions, however, is likely to be problematic. Distros like Arch, Ubuntu, Debian, and Gentoo have no centralized account infrastructure, with users downloading ISOs from
mirrors worldwide, and can modify source code freely. These small
distros lack legal teams or resources to implement the required API, so
a more realistic outcome for non-compliant distros is a disclaimer that
the software is not intended for use in California.

i can't find the link but one small Linux distro already announced their servers will geoblock California on 1 Jan 2027.

--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:41:53 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law>

*California introduces age verification law for all operating systems, including Linux and SteamOS rCo user age verified during OS account setup*

[snip]

While I abhor this sort of state-mandated intrusion, I note that classical Unix and Linux
systems already have most of the mechanism in place to comply with the law.

The classic Unix /etc/passwd file maintains a "gecos" field, originally used to co-ordinate
unix users with their GE GECOS development environment counterparts, but now mostly used
to record ancilliary information about the user (full name, home phone number, room number,
etc.) and the chfn(1) utility to manipulate this information.

It would seem trivial for this gecos field to record birthdate, needing only a change to the
chfn(1) utility, and a redefinition or expansion of the "other" component of gecos field.
The query api is already well-defined: getpwent(3) passes the entire gecos field (as pw_gecos)
to the caller. The rest would be up to the applications that require age verification.

Note, like all other solutions, there is no way to prevent the falsification of birthdate
at account creation.

Glad I don't live in California.
--
Lew Pitcher
"In Skills We Trust"
Not LLM output - I'm just like this.
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On Mon, 2 Mar 2026 18:17:18 -0000 (UTC), Lew Pitcher wrote:

Glad I don't live in California.

+1 ! ! !
--- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On 2026-03-02 19:17, Lew Pitcher wrote:

On Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:41:53 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

<https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law>

*California introduces age verification law for all operating systems,
including Linux and SteamOS rCo user age verified during OS account setup*

[snip]

While I abhor this sort of state-mandated intrusion, I note that classical Unix and Linux
systems already have most of the mechanism in place to comply with the law.

The classic Unix /etc/passwd file maintains a "gecos" field, originally used to co-ordinate
unix users with their GE GECOS development environment counterparts, but now mostly used
to record ancilliary information about the user (full name, home phone number, room number,
etc.) and the chfn(1) utility to manipulate this information.

It would seem trivial for this gecos field to record birthdate, needing only a change to the
chfn(1) utility, and a redefinition or expansion of the "other" component of gecos field.
The query api is already well-defined: getpwent(3) passes the entire gecos field (as pw_gecos)
to the caller. The rest would be up to the applications that require age verification.

Note, like all other solutions, there is no way to prevent the falsification of birthdate
at account creation.

The only way would be an age certificate issued and signed by a central authority.

But being open source, the root user could replace the library used to
query the certificate.

Glad I don't live in California.

--
Cheers, Carlos.
ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
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