“Key questions remain unanswered, such as the definition of “operating system provider,” the type of verification required, the focus on major commercial platforms, and the potential scope beyond them.”
I guarantee this bill is unenforceable. Cars, phones, traffic lights all have have computers with operating systems. All modern tech has an operating system of some sort. Also how do you even verify age? If my laptop is offline can I just not use it because it can’t confirm my id? What about tech that never goes online but has an OS, like a calculator? I can’t believe microsoft and apple are not lobbying against this. Who becomes liable if an “underage” person is accidentally given access or if access is denied to an “of age” person. I can just imagine an emt frantically looking for their driver’s license so they can use the computerized defibrillator.
Microsoft and Apple. The internet will only allow OSs from large American corporations.
I’d like to see the rest of the world say “fuck it” and carry on as before, leaving the Americans to censor themselves. But governments around the world are suddenly rushing to implement very similar terrible laws. It smells very coordinated.
Yeah, governments all over are trying to implement the same shit, and I agree it’s coordinated. Many governments are also looking seriously at stepping back from reliance on US big tech firms though. Not that homegrown oppression and surveillance is any better.
Meta is funding a lot of the lobbyists pushing for age verification laws. Uncoincidentally, Meta both owns a stake in a company providing identity verification as a service, and serves to benefit from not having to moderate its own platforms.
It feels like a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington display would solve this.
Just bring everything that has an operating system in it into the room. Cars, boats, planes, construction equipment, tractors, factories, knock off game consoles, literally every server on the internet.
Show them the ridiculousness of this and maybe we’ll get dragged out by police and charged with contempt of congress
Don’t give them even better ideas. To you it sounds ridiculous, to them it sounds like “we can ban people we don’t like from using modern technology by invalidating their age verification”
The problem comes when a public school’s IT department is deciding whether to go with a FOSS option, or a commercial OS. As the IT team has full control over the FOSS OS, the school will be held liable as the OS provider. They will select a commercial OS to avoid liability under these idiot laws.
What is this argument? You and I both know they want this age verification at the OS level for personal computing devices: phones, tablets and computers, maybe watches.
Is this really what’s going to kill this law? Semantics?
Yeah actually. A lot of laws get shitcanned into irrelevance due to being worded like shit on everything from the local to federal levels. That’s not even getting into conflicts with pre-existing well worded laws or the constitution as a whole.
If it’s worded badly enough it may even just be thrown out on first test due to being vague and too widely applicable. Just for example I drive a 2001 Toyota Tacoma it has an operating system because it’s got an ECU, how the actual fuck would that interact with this law? Obviously the corporate answer is to force me to get a new car but the actual practical answer is that that isn’t viable, so it’s more likely the courts just gut an entire section of the law with one case. Keep up the gutting and sooner or later it’ll end up defunct.
“Key questions remain unanswered, such as the definition of “operating system provider,” the type of verification required, the focus on major commercial platforms, and the potential scope beyond them.”
I guarantee this bill is unenforceable. Cars, phones, traffic lights all have have computers with operating systems. All modern tech has an operating system of some sort. Also how do you even verify age? If my laptop is offline can I just not use it because it can’t confirm my id? What about tech that never goes online but has an OS, like a calculator? I can’t believe microsoft and apple are not lobbying against this. Who becomes liable if an “underage” person is accidentally given access or if access is denied to an “of age” person. I can just imagine an emt frantically looking for their driver’s license so they can use the computerized defibrillator.
Offline computing?!
But
Microsoft is probably salivating at the idea of being the only legal OS provider.
Microsoft and Apple. The internet will only allow OSs from large American corporations.
I’d like to see the rest of the world say “fuck it” and carry on as before, leaving the Americans to censor themselves. But governments around the world are suddenly rushing to implement very similar terrible laws. It smells very coordinated.
Yeah, governments all over are trying to implement the same shit, and I agree it’s coordinated. Many governments are also looking seriously at stepping back from reliance on US big tech firms though. Not that homegrown oppression and surveillance is any better.
But you KNOW the masses will comply because they’re told so. They don’t want to break the law…
Meta is funding a lot of the lobbyists pushing for age verification laws. Uncoincidentally, Meta both owns a stake in a company providing identity verification as a service, and serves to benefit from not having to moderate its own platforms.
Citizens United, folks. Because nothing says “freedom of speech” like collusion, bribery, and conflicts of interest!
And meta had a pretty big chance of just getting banned from being used by minors in places around the world, so it might not work out as hoped.
But don’t some of these larger orgs fund Linux distros? Like Red Hat with Fedora?
It’s like Secure Boot, but without any of those pesky self-signing workarounds.
It feels like a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington display would solve this.
Just bring everything that has an operating system in it into the room. Cars, boats, planes, construction equipment, tractors, factories, knock off game consoles, literally every server on the internet.
Show them the ridiculousness of this and maybe we’ll get dragged out by police and charged with contempt of congress
Here ya go…
https://agelesslinux.org/hardware.html
Don’t give them even better ideas. To you it sounds ridiculous, to them it sounds like “we can ban people we don’t like from using modern technology by invalidating their age verification”
Go ahead and ban the people who are literally running the infrastructure they’re using
Will the sysadmins in Congress need to verify their age to use a server?
Yes. Yes, they will.
“Sorry, no email for your octogenarian Senator. TrumpID is down”
Yes. The powers at be will stop at nothing to take more, and more, and more power away from you. This is human nature.
The problem comes when a public school’s IT department is deciding whether to go with a FOSS option, or a commercial OS. As the IT team has full control over the FOSS OS, the school will be held liable as the OS provider. They will select a commercial OS to avoid liability under these idiot laws.
What is this argument? You and I both know they want this age verification at the OS level for personal computing devices: phones, tablets and computers, maybe watches.
Is this really what’s going to kill this law? Semantics?
Yeah actually. A lot of laws get shitcanned into irrelevance due to being worded like shit on everything from the local to federal levels. That’s not even getting into conflicts with pre-existing well worded laws or the constitution as a whole.
If it’s worded badly enough it may even just be thrown out on first test due to being vague and too widely applicable. Just for example I drive a 2001 Toyota Tacoma it has an operating system because it’s got an ECU, how the actual fuck would that interact with this law? Obviously the corporate answer is to force me to get a new car but the actual practical answer is that that isn’t viable, so it’s more likely the courts just gut an entire section of the law with one case. Keep up the gutting and sooner or later it’ll end up defunct.
Yeah, that’s kind of what laws are all about