How Linux And BSD Distros Are Responding To The New Age Verification Laws

Age verification laws could change how operating systems work. See how major Linux and BSD distributions are reacting to the new regulations.

The US states of California, Colorado and Illinois are passing new age verification laws that require operating systems, including Linux and BSD distributions, to implement age attestation during account setup and provide an API for apps to query user age brackets.

This is 'intended to help' apps filter content for minors, but it relies on self-reported ages without mandatory ID checks. Similar proposals exist in New York and Brazil.

While enforcement on community-driven distros remains unclear, several have begun addressing the laws through compliance planning, rejection, or exclusion strategies.

Here's the situation so far.

Some distros are planning to comply.

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, is reviewing the legislation with legal counsel but has not announced concrete changes yet. Community developer discussions include proposals for an optional D-Bus interface (org.freedesktop.AgeVerification1) to handle age brackets locally without privacy-invasive telemetry, potentially influencing other distros if adopted.

Aaron Rainbolt, Ubuntu Community Council Member and contributor to Whonix, said:

We're currently looking into how to implement an API that will comply with the laws while also not being a privacy disaster...

..elementary OS seems to be relying on Ubuntu's implementation too. Danielle Foré, elementary's lead developer and founder, was also in the same discussion expressing their willingness to address the issue before the law comes into effect.

The Fedora community is exploring non-intrusive implementations, such as a local API or an /etc/ file populated during setup to provide age brackets to apps without online verification or data sharing. Former project leader Jef Spaleta mentioned that it is not telemetry but a minimal adjustment to meet legal requirements.

System76, Linux system manufacturer and the company behind Pop!OS, noted that the laws do not mandate robust verification, only self-attestation and warned that non-compliance could lead to restricted app access for users...

Some distros are resisting

The bold step came from DHH and his Omarchy Linux as it outright rejected compliance, with DHH stating that he had no plans to respond to the "retarded" California law.

Adenix GNU/Linux distro has declared it will not implement age checks, aligning with a principled stand against such requirements.

MidnightBSD has taken a firm stance against compliance by updating its license to explicitly exclude California residents from using it for desktop purposes starting January 1, 2027. The project's lead stated this is a temporary measure until a better solution emerges, emphasizing the impracticality of age verification for open-source OSes.

What about the rest?

There are no official statements from Linux Mint yet, so any conclusion here is merely speculative. Given its close alignment with Ubuntu...

Arch Linux has remained publicly silent on the issue as well..

Meanwhile, discussions in the NixOS community suggest that they are waiting to see what larger distributions decide. That is not surprising. Much of the Linux ecosystem ultimately traces back to Debian, Arch, Ubuntu, and Red Hat (Fedora). Whatever technical approach these major players adopt will likely influence dozens of downstream distributions.

And we should also see a few existing or new distros coming up with "no age verification" as their unique feature that distinguishes them from the rest.

🔗SOURCE ➡️ Itsfoss

Related: 3/11 — California Law Forces Age-Tracking Into Every Operating System By 2027

3/11 — California Adopts Age Verification When Installing Operating Systems

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3/19 —Pakistani Missiles Pose Potential Threat To US – Gabbard

Islamabad’s evolving program could put American cities within range, the intel chief has said

Pakistan’s evolving missile program poses a potential threat to the US, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said.

She named the South Asian country along with Russia and others in the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment Report.

“Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan have been researching and developing an array of novel, advanced, or traditional missile delivery systems with nuclear and conventional payloads, that put our homeland within range,” Gabbard told the US Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. “.. .. capable of striking the homeland.”

Gabbard told the committee that she expects threats to the US to expand collectively from more than 3,000 missiles to more than 16,000 missiles by 2035.

Washington-based scholar Shuja Nawaz told Dawn News that this “continues the analysis of the Biden administration that placed sanctions on Pakistani entities and tried to curb acquisition of new technologies.”

Washington-Islamabad ties have been marked by ups and downs over the past few decades. Pakistan was a US ally in the Cold War era and joined several Washington-led initiatives, including the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO).

The US declared Pakistan a major non-NATO ally in 2004, although it later accused Islamabad of supporting the Afghanistan Taliban and undermining US interests in the war-torn country until 2021.

Earlier this year, Islamabad joined US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which aims to oversee a postwar reconstruction of Gaza.

The South Asian country enjoys a warm relationship with China and has joined President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative. It is also a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

🔗SOURCE ➡️ RT

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