Subject: "Age Verification Laws are a Complete Joke"
California and Brazil are now forcing OS vendors to determine the age of its users. It requires operating systems to gather the user’s birthdate upon set-up. It’s the responsibility of the people to fight back against this blatant erosion of our privacy.
Who's behind this?
Corporations. What a surprise, isn’t it? They have peddled this agenda under the guise of “child-safety.” Companies like Meta and Google benefit heavily from this because it shifts the burden of age verification to the operating system instead of a third-party service.
Politicians aren’t saints either, often receiving donations from companies to push it forward. Currently, bills regarding AV have been passed in several countries including the UK, Australia and more. Several states are also planning to follow suit, such as Colorado and Michigan. These bills are more or less copies of the same one used in California, almost as if it was just a template.
How will this affect me?
There is a lot of variance in implementation - some services require you to do a face scan while others ask for ID. Now, operating systems have to gather personal information which is a blatant violation of privacy. Having to provide proof for each service you sign-up for is not just a major inconvenience, but also a means for companies to gather more user information.
Companies don’t have a great track record either. Just last year, the third-party service 5CA had a data breach through it’s ticketing system and hackers were able to gather the IDs of over 70,000 users that registered for Discord. Another vendor named Persona has ties to data analytics company, Palantir, infamous for their surveillance software.
Advertisers also benefit from this, having a more complete fingerprint of your digital presence. This allows them to send more targeted ads, providing financial incentives for companies. It makes you far more easier to track down by companies and one step backwards for privacy.
What can I do?
I don’t think there really is a one-size fits all solution for this problem. There’s no standardisation that has went into this whole process. Therefore, I can’t recommend anything right now. However, if you are using Linux, systemd has implemented age verification measures into userdb. This can be bypassed by using Ageless Linux, a script that replaces the measures with one that returns a null value.
If you are georestricted, torrents are available to download Linux ISO’s (remember to seed!). It gets much harder to spoof photo or ID verification though. One trick that I’ve seen was by using pictures of Norman Reedus through Death Stranding 2’s camera mode. He can mimic various different movements and poses which is needed by some services. It’s also a testament to the game’s realistic graphics.
My Take
I’m baffled such a thing even passed unanimously. No one thought about the complications surrounding a law like this. Since most Linux distros are backed by a small team of devs, they will just block access instead of trying to comply. It’s very frustrating but also ironic seeing laws like these pass in countries that pride themselves for their freedom.
Ultimately, children will find one way or another to circumvent this. There’s no denying it. Parental Controls have become so easy to implement, I would consider it neglect to not use it. Governments and Companies only seem to care for the wellbeing of children when it pads out their bottom line. The responsibility of protecting kids should fall squarely on the parents, not through legislation.