Linux Age Verification: FOSS in the Brave New World

How will Linux distros be impacted by legislation that requires operating systems to record and report the age of users? REFERENCES: Carl Richell blog post “System76 on Age Verification Laws”: https://blog.system76.com/post/system76-on-age-verification Canonical response to California Act: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntus-response-to-californias-digital-age-assurance-act-ab-1043/77948?ref=itsfoss.com Ageless Linux website: https://agelesslinux.org/index.html Adendix Homepage: https://www.adenixgnulinux.org MidnightBSD GitHub page: https://github.com/MidnightBSD/src?tab=License-1-ov-file The Periodic Table of Distros on DistroWatch: https://distrowatch.com/images/other/periodic-table-of-distro.png Carl Richell tweet on open source and Colorado bill: https://x.com/carlrichell/status/2031125624711164182 LEGISLATION: California Assembly Bill No.1043: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1043 Colorado Senate Bill 26-051: https://leg.colorado.gov/bill_files/110990/download Brazil Digital Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA Digital - Law No. 15,211/2025): https://www.gov.br/mdh/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2025/novembro/brasil-apresenta-avancos-em-seguranca-digital-da-infancia-e-lanca-eca-digital-em-ingles-durante-cupula-social-do-g20-na-africa-do-sul/eca-digital-ing-v2.pdf UK Online Safety Act -- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/contents Australia Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024: https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00127/asmade/downloads You can find all of the ExplainingComputers Linux episodes on this page: https://explainingcomputers.com/linux_videos.html More videos on computing and related topics can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/@ExplainingComputers And more videos on film and other making, plus retro tech, can be found on my Christopher Barnatt channel: http://www.youtube.com/@ChristopherBarnatt Chapters: 00:00 Titles & Intro 01:10 Rising Legislation 05:18 Compliance Practicalities 07:44 The Linux Response 12:12 The Road Ahead #Linux #Age #Verification #California #Brazil #Legislation #ExplainingComputers