The Global Age Verification Onslaught on Linux: Safety as Surveillance Trojan Horse (Live Updates)

Update Log

• March 10, 2026:
  • Illinois SB3977 Joins the age verification bandwagon.
  • System76 Linux hardware maker speaks out on age verification.
• March 7, 2026:
  • Carl Richell, CEO of System76 challenges age verification mandates
• March 6, 2026:
  • Omarchy Linux Rejects “retarded” California AV law.
  • Canonical undecided according to Lunduke.
  • Brazil’s Law 15.211 fines hit $9M by March 17, Fedora unaware of AV laws.
• March 5:
  • Lunduke on Brazil OS mandate.
  • Ubuntu/Elementary planning compliance.
  • Techlore announces that 50% of the US has already implemented age verification.
• March 4:
  • Marketing fines section; Deep Humor biometrics warning.

It’s no longer just California. AB 1043 kicks off a global regulatory blitz on all internet-connected OS (Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS), mandating age signals (birth dates/API brackets: under 13/13-17/adult) at “account setup.” Brazil’s Law 15.211 enforces robust OS-level verification March 17, 2026 ($9M fines); Colorado/NY bills loom. Linux, the last bastion of digital liberty, faces shutdown—FOSS devs can’t afford compliance without selling souls.

AB 1043: Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), Feb 20, 2025; unanimous Assembly 76-0/Senate 38-0; Newsom-signed Oct 13, 2025; effective Jan 1, 2027 ($7,500/violation).

Constitutional Defenses

First Amendment blocks compelled speech (AB 1520 precedent); Fourteenth protects parental rights (Pierce, 1925); Ninth/Tenth limit overreach. Parents control kids’ tech, not Sacramento or Brasília.

Selective Hypocrisy

Digital obsession (AB 1043, AB 56, SB 243 AI chats) ignores EMF/5G harms, fast-food toxins, pharma repeats (opioids/vaccines), rogue AI suicides and corporate payoffs exempt giants, which hammers down on small Linux developers.

Marketing Free-For-All

As highlighted by “Deep Humor” in the YouTube video “This Could STOP Age Verification,” AB 1043’s age signals, potentially via biometrics like facial scans or device-linked birth dates, handing verified age data directly to third-party apps and marketers. No more guesswork from big data profiles; corporations get precise brackets (under 13, 13-17, adult) on a silver platter, enabling hyper-targeted ads without parental consent.

This guts privacy at the OS level, turning family devices into marketing funnels where apps “know” your kid’s age instantly for personalized pitches, from junk food to gadgets. It’s not child safety; it’s a violation of parental rights to control data and duties to shield offspring from exploitation, while Big Tech skips the data-mining hassle for free demographic gold. Parents foot privacy losses; marketers reap billions. Just another unconstitutional grift masked as protection.

$7,500 “Marketing Safety” Fines

Fines criminalize not surrendering data, paving ad-blocker bans, flipping safety into corporate profit.

Slippery Slope

Reddit warns: Compliance preps for worse. Next: Income tests for parenting? Career dictates? Full gov-compliance for your computer? Omarchy Linux: “Doing nothing for this retarded law.” Canonical: Undecided. MidnightBSD: CA ban.

A Reddit user commented:

If all they are requiring is age to be input, not verified, at the OS level, why do you think they’re doing that? Do you really think that’s all they want? You have to know, if you are being honest, that will only be the first step. To get you to comply with an unreasonable mandate (and likely unconstitutional, but the only law that means anything these days is the law of might makes right) so they can have YOUR company do the work of implementing their demands, so that you will then be ready to implement the next step. And you have to know that next step is the purpose for this first step. They don’t care about people entering random numbers into a computer as required to get the OS to work. That is clearly not the point. The point is to see who complies with the first step, so that you don’t have a leg to stand on when they demand what they really want. You know this. You have to know this.

The only way your company gets out of this, sadly, is to refuse to do business with states that require these absolutely insane surveillance laws on your property. If you do not, you can expect people will stop purchasing what you have to offer. It sucks, but that’s the only way forward as I see it.

Fighting alone? Devs would likely quit. Need FOSS Freedom Alliance for Supremacy Clause suits?

According to Lunduke, Preston Burn posted this:

If these developers contact me, I will advise them for free and start assembling a legal team to challenge this law.

Legitimate Pushback by System76

Carl Richell’s Key Points
Carl Richell, CEO of System76, criticizes new age verification mandates in states like California, Colorado, and New York. These laws require operating systems to collect user age data at account setup and share it with apps/websites, which he calls ineffective “security theater” since kids can easily bypass it using virtual machines or self-reported adult ages.

Privacy and Freedom Concerns
He argues the mandates erode user privacy by forcing OS-level surveillance and data exposure, limiting freedom without meaningfully protecting minors. Richell favors digital literacy and parental education over such regulations, noting they add onboarding friction and risk data leaks.

System76’s Compliance Stance
Despite opposition, System76 plans minimal compliance—using age brackets only, avoiding excess data like DOB—to avoid fines while limiting scope. They anticipate broader impacts if more regions adopt similar laws.

Link to original System76 Article on Age Verification mandates.

Updates incoming. Share to amplify.