Latest Comments by LoudTechie
New US Congress bill proposal requires all operating system providers to verify ages
17 Apr 2026 at 8:29 am UTC
B. It's a lot easier as a parent to check this one trick than monitor a kid's entire online presence. One could even provide an external media check a parent/teacher/adult could use to check for unauthorized modifications.
Still I find it realistic, but than coming from police forces which just always want more government mandated spyware on your device.
17 Apr 2026 at 8:29 am UTC
Quoting: EhvisA. As a Linux user you're vastly underestimating the amount of technical skill required to flash a new version of the OS and/or alter read only marked user values. Defaults matter the vast majority of people will use the code provided by the manufacturer and stick to it.Quoting: LoudTechieAlso the big maintainers(Linus, KDE, FSF, RHEL, etc) will face pressure to add the feature.That would be the easy thing. But that ultimately means nothing as it is removed quicker than it can be added. It is fundamentally impossible add this sort of thing into an open source system and have it "work". And what comes then is the scary part. If anyone can remove said protection, then maybe a "smart" government official will decide that only "approved" systems should be bootable on computers. Bring in "SecureBoot NG-STC", a mandatory security system that makes sure that only lawful systems can be booted on computers! Problem solved!
In the end it will become a build option to add and not add this.
B. It's a lot easier as a parent to check this one trick than monitor a kid's entire online presence. One could even provide an external media check a parent/teacher/adult could use to check for unauthorized modifications.
Still I find it realistic, but than coming from police forces which just always want more government mandated spyware on your device.
US operating system age verification bill "Parents Decide Act" gets published
17 Apr 2026 at 8:28 am UTC
B. We might be encountering my privileged upbringing here. My parents had the tendency to maintain separate account for the device owner and the rest of the family, so I assumed this to be common practice. Help with account setup could be included with the maternity care.
17 Apr 2026 at 8:28 am UTC
Quoting: grigiA. From that point it's the parents decision, since it costs nothing to make extra accounts. Making this a "parents decide" thing.Quoting: LoudTechieIt's not attached to the computer it's attached to the user account(poor FreeBSD doesn't have accounts)They don't have their own accounts either. How many home PC's actually have separate accounts? I mean houses where chaos rules?
Virtually zero, that's what.
That's my point.
B. We might be encountering my privileged upbringing here. My parents had the tendency to maintain separate account for the device owner and the rest of the family, so I assumed this to be common practice. Help with account setup could be included with the maternity care.
Immersive sim boomer shooter Fortune's Run back in development as the developer is out of jail
17 Apr 2026 at 8:04 am UTC Likes: 1
He claimed he was jailed, because he was "a very violent person."
17 Apr 2026 at 8:04 am UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: Purple Library GuyAccording to our favorite mediaoutlet.Quoting: LoudTechiecriminal dev: Most potential partners avoid me, because I've been proven to be violent in courtAssuming it was a violent crime. Even today, people do still sometimes go to jail for embezzlement as long as it wasn't a big enough amount to make you a new-minted oligarch . . .
He claimed he was jailed, because he was "a very violent person."
US operating system age verification bill "Parents Decide Act" gets published
16 Apr 2026 at 1:55 pm UTC
The issue is more do you want to do that for your doorbell, your fridge, your car, your bike lamp and your thermostat. That'll be a lot of work.
I think point of sale settings might be legal in this sense, but would telling your birth date when buying things.
All I can hope in this sense is that I misunderstood:
General purpose computing device to mean a device that can do any computing task, instead of is designed to do any computing task.
16 Apr 2026 at 1:55 pm UTC
Quoting: pbYours.Quoting: LoudTechie- also applies to IOT and servers.This is the funniest part. Whose age should I set on the fridge? Mine, or the yogurt's? 😆
Anyway it's nothing particularly new. When I set up gmail accounts for my kids, I just added 10 years or whatever, so they don't get blocked from accessing stuff and I don't get pestered with requests for permission or whatever. If I installed such age-requiring OS today, I would do the same.
The issue is more do you want to do that for your doorbell, your fridge, your car, your bike lamp and your thermostat. That'll be a lot of work.
I think point of sale settings might be legal in this sense, but would telling your birth date when buying things.
All I can hope in this sense is that I misunderstood:
General purpose computing device to mean a device that can do any computing task, instead of is designed to do any computing task.
New US Congress bill proposal requires all operating system providers to verify ages
16 Apr 2026 at 1:18 pm UTC
It lies in the "let parents decide" part of the "let parents decide" act.
Devices without it can't be sold in the USA.
Also the big maintainers(Linus, KDE, FSF, RHEL, etc) will face pressure to add the feature.
In the end it will become a build option to add and not add this.
16 Apr 2026 at 1:18 pm UTC
Quoting: ScottCarammelllike I said with the california bill, would *love* to see how this would be enforced with open-source software redistributed through a billion different services with no personal ownership by any person or entityNow I've read the law I know and understand.
It lies in the "let parents decide" part of the "let parents decide" act.
Devices without it can't be sold in the USA.
Also the big maintainers(Linus, KDE, FSF, RHEL, etc) will face pressure to add the feature.
In the end it will become a build option to add and not add this.
New US Congress bill proposal requires all operating system providers to verify ages
16 Apr 2026 at 1:13 pm UTC
16 Apr 2026 at 1:13 pm UTC
Quoting: GerarderloperThat'll stop those Operating Systems exploiting young children...........................................................................................................................................................🤔Ahem Windows, but also its a central function of the OS to actively protect against outside threats, so stopping child exploitation prevention is a lot easier to market as an OS feature than for most other things.
Immersive sim boomer shooter Fortune's Run back in development as the developer is out of jail
16 Apr 2026 at 12:36 pm UTC Likes: 1
Both, because of parole rules and because of background requirements.
Edit:
This also works in dating.
non-criminal dev: I'm going to slow down my development, because I just started a relationship that deserves my time.
criminal dev: Most potential partners avoid me, because I've been proven to be violent in court, but I still have as much time as in the past, so I'll focus on the activities where people don't have to avoid violent people, since they're unreachable to them.
16 Apr 2026 at 12:36 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: Chinstrap Well that's good. The moment I heard the developer went to jail I thought the game had little chance to survive.In jail one has all the time to work on their design and out of jail many opportunities that might've once distracted one from completing the game disappear.
Glad I'm wrong.
Both, because of parole rules and because of background requirements.
Edit:
This also works in dating.
non-criminal dev: I'm going to slow down my development, because I just started a relationship that deserves my time.
criminal dev: Most potential partners avoid me, because I've been proven to be violent in court, but I still have as much time as in the past, so I'll focus on the activities where people don't have to avoid violent people, since they're unreachable to them.
X.Org X server and Xwayland security advisory released for multiple issues
16 Apr 2026 at 12:10 pm UTC
They already approved them and thus presumably stand behind them.
You publish them on social media(as demonstrated by the xz-backdoor)
What it can result in is dumb social media discussions about when something is a backdoor.
16 Apr 2026 at 12:10 pm UTC
Quoting: PhlebiacYou don't report backdoors to reviewers.Quoting: LoudTechieThere's one thing I hope AI'll bring the ability for non-technical people to check source code for backdoors.This just results in low quality / incorrect bug reports, wasting the time of whoever has to review them.
They already approved them and thus presumably stand behind them.
You publish them on social media(as demonstrated by the xz-backdoor)
What it can result in is dumb social media discussions about when something is a backdoor.
US operating system age verification bill "Parents Decide Act" gets published
16 Apr 2026 at 12:04 pm UTC Likes: 2
16 Apr 2026 at 12:04 pm UTC Likes: 2
My review.
+ Totally implementable.
+ not a giant big tech boon.
+ simple law
- easy to circumvent.
- I don't trust them to not turn this in something problematic.
- also applies to IOT and servers.
This will mostly result in the automation of these cookie banner like age gates.
+ Totally implementable.
+ not a giant big tech boon.
+ simple law
- easy to circumvent.
- I don't trust them to not turn this in something problematic.
- also applies to IOT and servers.
This will mostly result in the automation of these cookie banner like age gates.
US operating system age verification bill "Parents Decide Act" gets published
16 Apr 2026 at 11:58 am UTC Likes: 2
16 Apr 2026 at 11:58 am UTC Likes: 2
Quoting: grigiIt doesn't make sense to have this kind of data attached to a device like a computer. My kids will just as happily use Grans computer (or ours) as the school computer to fiddle around on Scratch for example.It's not attached to the computer it's attached to the user account(poor FreeBSD doesn't have accounts)
None of the computers are "theirs", they are not the primary users.
In what world do they expect even well off people like us to provision a separate computer for each person? The kids don't need their own thing, they also shouldn't have unfettered access to screens, so they won't get their own system until they can acquire one themselves.