I see, I don’t know how I missed that, thanks for pointing it out. I still think that the API itself is neat and I’d love to see that for the sake of comfort, but I also agree that the enforcement to use it even when it makes no sense to do so is just stupid. Let’s just hope that they fix this overshot at least if they refuse to drop it altogether.
Sounds like you’re looking for Nobara.
- Stable Fedora base, optimized for games and creative work.
- WINE, OBS, codecs, and third-party repositories preconfigured.
- Less time in the terminal, more time playing and creating.
Of course, and I will fight the next steps with pleasure, but I welcome a qol feature anytime, even one enforced by law.
Where in the bill does it say that? And where would that make sense? What would Notepad or File Explorer do with my age range? That would make no sense at all.
And yes, as a professional developer I would definetely comply and use this API instead of bothering my customers every time by askIng them to confirm their age, but since I’ve never worked on any age restricted software in the first place, it does not affect any of my products.
I’ll just copy my comment from a similar bill in colorado, I will leave the link to the colorado bill in, but here is the california bill as well if you want to read it yourself.
The title is very misleading. This is the actual bill that they are trying to pass. The link already includes a summary, so I will just give you an even simpler explanation and some practical examples why this is actually really neat.
First of all, this is not age verification. No IDs have to be submitted, no selfies or videos will be submitted to any age estimation AIs, so put your pitchforks away (for now, until they decide to expand the bill to include these measures as well, then it’s time to burn it down). The name of the bill already tells you what it is: Age Attestation. Aka what every piece of software already does before it shows you explicit content.
With the bill in place, every “operating system provider” has to ask you for your age or date of birth during OS setup, which will then be made available to other software via an API. So instead of having to fill in your date of birth or checking “Are you 18+/21+?” boxes, software will use the new API to check instead, saving you the trouble of doing it manually every time for every application that is not made for all ages.
What makes it even better is that the OS does not have to provide your actual age or birth date, the bill has a minimum requirement of just disclosing age-bracket data. So it could work just like age ratings, which also rely on age groups rather than specific years. Also, the bill explicitly forbids asking for more than your age, sharing more than that via the new API and using the entered age data for anything else than the described purpose, like sending it to a server for tracking purposes.
And finally, as mentioned in the beginning, no IDs or anything else as it is with age verification necessary. You can still lie, just enter 1.1.2000 or whatever you want. Nothing changes, except that you will only have to do it once every time you reinstall/reset your OS or buy a new device.
The title is very misleading. This is the actual bill that they are trying to pass. The link already includes a summary, so I will just give you an even simpler explanation and some practical examples why this is actually really neat.
First of all, this is not age verification. No IDs have to be submitted, no selfies or videos will be submitted to any age estimation AIs, so put your pitchforks away (for now, until they decide to expand the bill to include these measures as well, then it’s time to burn it down). The name of the bill already tells you what it is: Age Attestation. Aka what every piece of software already does before it shows you explicit content.
With the bill in place, every “operating system provider” has to ask you for your age or date of birth during OS setup, which will then be made available to other software via an API. So instead of having to fill in your date of birth or checking “Are you 18+/21+?” boxes, software will use the new API to check instead, saving you the trouble of doing it manually every time for every application that is not made for all ages.
What makes it even better is that the OS does not have to provide your actual age or birth date, the bill has a minimum requirement of just disclosing age-bracket data. So it could work just like age ratings, which also rely on age groups rather than specific years. Also, the bill explicitly forbids asking for more than your age, sharing more than that via the new API and using the entered age data for anything else than the described purpose, like sending it to a server for tracking purposes.
And finally, as mentioned in the beginning, no IDs or anything else as it is with age verification necessary. You can still lie, just enter 1.1.2000 or whatever you want. Nothing changes, except that you will only have to do it once every time you reinstall/reset your OS or buy a new device.
Why is there a single, dedicated nsfw instance in the first place? The fediverse exists for decentralisation. No one can control it on their own, no single point of failure, if one part (instance) dies there are still loads of alternatives left. With just another single, centralized instance, it just becomes a prime example for the definition of insanity and history repeating itself.
So far, this bill (and every other one I’ve) seen basically wants to force OS developers to add a birthdate field to your account setup process and an APi to expose this field, which should then be used by other software to obtain your age and limit what they serve you (ads, tracking, nsfe content) based on the legal requirements of your current age bracket. So, no more age gates for every virtual “adult service” you consume, just once on OS setup.
And how to circumvent this? Simple: You lie, just like you did when you were a teen and wanted to access inapropriate content for your age.
Now, if they expand the bill to actually require verification instead of indication, that’s when things will get interesting. But even then, as long as you own a PC and not use a cloud PC, which means that the data is still stored somewhere locally, it can and will be manipulatable and therefore circumventable. How exactly is hard to say without seeing the actual implementation of the affected OS.
One thing to actually fear tho is how Microsoft and Apple will handle this: They tend to overshoot what the bare minimum law is asking for and actual, verified age data can be valuable when harvested in larger quantities, combined with other metrics and sold (think about how many surveys ask for your age or an age bracket). Most of the bills I read do mention “privacy and security when it comes to sensitive user information”, but as we all know: A fee is just another expense when it comes to calculating your net profit from your total revenue…