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PayPalWith all the different countries and US states expanding age verification laws for various devices, here's what the Debian Linux team had to say about it.
It continues to be a sticky situation for many Linux distributions, with most taking a wait and see approach. We had previous posts covered here on GamingOnLinux from the likes of Ubuntu and Fedora, while System76 took the fight directly to law makers.
This full statement comes from the current Debian Linux project leader, Andreas Tille, written on their mailing list under "Bits from the DPL" that was posted April 4th.
From their mailing list:
Recent discussions have started around new age verification legislation that may affect free software operating systems. In particular, the California Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), expected to take effect in 2027, raises questions about whether operating systems and package distribution mechanisms could be required to provide age-related information to applications. In parallel, a recently adopted law in Brazil appears to introduce similar requirements and is already in force, with initial interpretations suggesting it could apply to components such as package management tools. These developments are currently under discussion within Debian and other projects, and SPI has initiated efforts to obtain legal guidance. At this stage, the situation remains unclear, and further analysis is ongoing.
From a non-lawyer perspective, it is not yet clear how such regulations apply to a non-commercial, volunteer-driven project like Debian, which does not sell software and provides it in a highly decentralized way. It seems plausible that obligations, if any, may primarily affect redistributors or commercial entities building products on top of Debian. In such cases, Debian would as usual be open to contributions that help downstreams meet their requirements, while keeping such features optional and respecting the needs of users in other jurisdictions. However, this is an area where proper legal analysis is still required.
Hopefully this won't cause too many issues for distribution developers, and for all of us users.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Kimyrielle 6 hours ago
Quoting: syylkUsing Debian is the age verification! (cit.)I came here to see this comment and I'm not disappointed! 😄
GustyGhost 3 hours ago
ScottCarammell 2 hours ago
Quoting: GustyGhostAge (identity by another name) verification faces the same barriers that gaming anticheat has with Linux. They both seek to restrict users in some fashion on an operating system which is fundamentally built around not restricting users.except a lot worse because while people like what anti-cheat does when it works properly, *nobody* wants this on their system
Quoting: ScottCarammellAge restriction can work without identity information (from just entering it in my computer to more sophisticated stuff e.g. the EU implements), and I as a parent do want age restrictions (and no, I don't want to observe every their step in a certain age).Quoting: GustyGhostAge (identity by another name) verification faces the same barriers that gaming anticheat has with Linux. They both seek to restrict users in some fashion on an operating system which is fundamentally built around not restricting users.except a lot worse because while people like what anti-cheat does when it works properly, *nobody* wants this on their system
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