Another comment about Age Attestation Laws - Fighting Back:

It is clear that Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) has been lobbying politicians in numerous U.S. States to require Age Attestation be inserted into Operating Systems. Meta are doing this in a very sneaky way so that most people are unaware that it is coming from them. Meta wants to "pass the buck" onto the Operating Systems to perform Age Attestation of OS Users, rather than have to pay fines for any children found using their social media platforms.

So, this is Meta's fault. And Meta should be punished. And what more fitting way to punish Meta than to do this:

1) Call them out. Shout from the rooftops, blaming Meta for this. Make other people aware.

2) Leave Meta platforms. Stop using WhatsApp, stop using Instagram, stop using Facebook. Delete your Accounts. Hit them where it hurts - In their pockets. Tell Meta you are leaving because of their lobbying and the impact it is causing to society.

3) For good measure, delete your browser cookies. Use Adblocking technology like uBlock Origin and Ghostery. Make it *harder* for these data mining companies to collect data about you. If you don't use their products (e.g. Facebook) then they are less able to target you for adverts.

4) Switch over to using Mastodon, Signal and other privacy software (instead of Facebook and WhatsApp). Get your friends and family to switch too.

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Here are some ideas from me on this issue:

Decentralisation - A country can't block an OS or App Store if it is properly decentralised. No one is legally responsible for such OS, because no single country is controlling it. (This goes in hand with anonymising the developers who maintain it.)

Geo-positional license terms - Any state or country which regulates age attestation laws gets hit with a 'you can't use this software legally in this place' license agreement. No need to put in age-attestation controls if people in a specific location aren't permitted to use the software.

Lobbying in the reverse direction - It is generally known that Meta is responsible for lobbying these new age laws in US States, such as California. The people (you and me) need to contact their local politicians and argue against these laws. We need to have a massive onslaught of messages going to politicians making them very aware that this is major overreach and the public won't put up with it.

Software Ownership License Terms - Adjust the licensing terms within the software that make it that the installer of the software becomes the Owner / Responsible Party for age regulation of the software (and make no changes to the software itself). It becomes the responsibility of the 'owner' (user) of the software to follow the letter of the law (adding in age attestation verification APIs). This basically criminalises all users, and makes it very hard to attack the OS itself.

I'm sure there are other ways to proceed. One way forward is to go back to putting the onus on social media platforms to identify child users. After all, Meta is responsible for "passing the buck" onto OSes and App Stores by lobbying politicians so that they can avoid big fines.

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I played the game as a demo about a year ago, and I like it. I've been biding my time, waiting for it to be reduced in price, maybe 50%+ ideally 75%+ discount. Although an unrealistic viewpoint, I wish developer teams would *move on* to new projects rather than keep adding extra 'value' onto older titles. DLC additions like this keep the asking price of the title high which discourages me to ever buy it.

Yes, I am a proper bargain seeker. It is almost unheard of for me to pay anywhere near full price for a title.

In a similar vein, rather than the Facepunch developers keep on changing their RUST game, adding more and more content, completely altering the way it plays - They could have built a brand new game from scratch, survival, base building, in a different setting (Space, Fantasy, Cyberpunk).

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I avoid 'Chrome' as a browser because it is made by a Big Tech corporation whose entire business model is built around stealing and exploiting the data of its users. Chrome now has Manifest Version 2 support removed, and so it can't run a fully-effective Tracker Blocker (like uBlock Origin, Ghostery, and others). Google has things in place inside their browser to collect telemetry beyond that which is exposed by website traffic.

I suppose the 'good news' here is that properly degoogled Chromium ports like 'Ungoogled Chromium' and 'Brave' browser will be available to use for browsing, which I find to be acceptable choices (for me to use). Wouldn't even install Chrome on my system. [Google gets to collect app download data, IP address, etc - If you have Chrome installed.]

Typically, I run Firefox, Librewolf, Floorp, Tor browser, Mullvad browser, and other Firefox-based browsers where Manifest Version 2 still works and I can use a proper Tracker Blocker. Where Firefox has some minor flaws in its default configuration, those flaws can easily be remedied.

Avoiding Google helps to defund Google, stops them having a detailed profile on you, and reduces the enormous amount of control they impose upon society. If only there were more decent Linux mobile apps to fight against the duopoly that is Android and iOS. [I already run Ubuntu Touch, SailfishOS, Droidian, PostmarketOS, Meego, Maemo on my mobiles.]

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A video showing more about this topic:

https://odysee.com/@techlore:3/your-os-must-now-report-your-age-to:e [External Link]

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Quoting: Caldathras

Quoting: g000hAs soon as Californians are no longer able to legally run Linux, their own citizens will go after this law and end the moronic political overreach.

This assumes that the majority of Californians are Linux users. Linux is not significant enough to overturn this law. Besides, the majority of eligible voters are indifferent sheep ... they are more likely to just accept or ignore the overreach.

Well the alternative is just giving up and result in Linux dying. Is that what you want? BTW California state includes Big Tech utopia Silicon Valley. Love to see Google and Meta trying to run without access to open source.

It appears that Meta is responsible for causing this political upheaval - Lobbying politicians in these areas. (Meta gets to avoid big fines if it passes age verification onto operating systems and app stores.)

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This is needed - Fighting the politicians. Most Linux distributions should amend their license terms to deny right to use Linux in the state of California and other states where this Operating System Age Law gets implemented.

As soon as Californians are no longer able to legally run Linux, their own citizens will go after this law and end the moronic political overreach.

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So basically, you want to set up a spare Steam account and link that account to this. Allowing you to get access to all the keys.

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Quoting: Caldathras

Quoting: g000hWell, Chrome Books (Google) and Mobile Phones (Google and Apple) are not far off being headless terminals. The public uses them for consuming content, most of their functionality relies on cloud services (e.g. WhatsApp, Instagram, iCloud, Google Maps, Google Docs, etc).

Not sure I agree here. My Android smartphone, for me, is effectively a minicomputer. I do not use it for any of the "functionality" you've listed here. No streaming. No games. No social media. I use it for visiting forums, online research, offline calendar & task management, recording notes, offline office functionality, etc. This is not all that different than my daily driver laptop. On top of that, I also take photographs and send and receive phone calls. These devices are what you make of them.

Yes, but you are the exception. You are using your phone like a computer and restricting yourself mostly to local apps - That is how I use mine. However, the vast majority of the public are using online services for everything - Spotify, Netflix, etc.

In my comment I was referring to a typical person, not a computer geek with privacy concerns.

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Quoting: pbinb4 they start selling headless terminals that have to be connected to the cloud, where all our files would reside (at a hefty monthly fee, of course)

Well, Chrome Books (Google) and Mobile Phones (Google and Apple) are not far off being headless terminals. The public uses them for consuming content, most of their functionality relies on cloud services (e.g. WhatsApp, Instagram, iCloud, Google Maps, Google Docs, etc).

People are already being manipulated into not having fully functional computers any more.

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