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Federal Bill Would Bring OS-Level Age Verification to the Entire U.S. (linuxiac.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 18 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (8 children)

Would this bill ban the use of all operating systems released before it became law? That seems unlikely.

So then how about OSs released before it became law, with patches released afterwards? That also seems unlikely.

So then how about my computer's current OS, which is a heavily patched version of a little hobby OS called Linux, originally released in 1991?

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (7 children)

    you’ll simply not be allowed online with the device.

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  • [–] 29 points 6 months ago* (4 children)

    "But that's unenforceable", some will claim.

    And to that, let me remind us all of a little-known concept called cryptographic attestation. If that doesn't ring any bells, then the term "secure boot" should.

    Once this shit passes into law, that's the next step. Operating system vendors have their private keys to sign attestation tokens saying "John Johnson is an adult" and you're only getting one if you verify your government ID. When you go to a website, your browser sends your signed token to the website and then the website checks if it's a valid token signed by Microsoft, Apple, or Google.

    But Linux?, you may be wondering. No. No Linux. Kiss it good-bye. Your bank will "require" identity attestation for "extra security", and your bank doesn't give a fuck about Linux. Your bank will check against whatever list of public keys they want to trust, and it ain't going to include anything not backed by a global megacorporation.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago

    It's already the case that banks don't allow their apps to be used on rooted phones. I can imagine a similar possibility for desktop computers. A dreadful possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    I mean I get where you're going with this, but I still don't see how this effects Linux. Oh no I can't access reddit without a government ID...cool I don't use it anyway?

    And if Lemmy or whatever else requires one then oh well, I'll find the dozen or so forums that don't care then

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    It won't at first. If more essential websites start to unnecessarily adopt it, it will start to lock Linux users out of being able to access the services necessary to exist in modern society.

    Imagine if you need age/identity verification to:

    • Do banking
    • Make online purchases
    • File your taxes
    • Book a doctor's appointment
    • Apply for a job
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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 child)

    theoretically if it's just web servers and apps enforcing this, then techies can move on from the web to something like gemini or gopher and adapt it to their needs.

    Also, it's not like websites based in non-USA countries are going to give a shit about this law

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago

    About that last sentence; the same crap is creeping in Europe at the very least. There was another press release about the eu commission iirc welcoming a similar decision in spirit. Just not implemented at OS level but web-side.

    Not sure or Asia and Africa are feeling about this but unfortunately USA is not alone. which in my opinion gives credits to the various theories that it’s being pushed by gafam.

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