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@jzb@hachyderm.io
Post #1436117
2026-03-23 16:32 UTC
@Npars01 @iaruffell @ammdias There's no need to guess: Linux developers that are trying to address this are concerned about legal exposure.
Ultimately, if CA decided to bring suit against one of the vendors or projects, the law would *probably* be overturned, etc. But that costs a ton of money that vendors don't want to spend and projects do not have. The EFF has said that they believe the law will apply to the distributions, regardless of whether they are based in CA or not.
I'm a bit concerned about the frenzy over this: it seems to have originated with a right-wing personality and is taking on a tone similar to the anti-Mono and anti-systemd brigading that was particularly nasty. And people are turning on FOSS developers in a particularly nasty way now. It's not helpful, and it's not conducive to solving these problems. Disagreeing with the way projects/distributions are handling it is fine, of course -- but people should be able to argue without slinging hate at people at the first sign of disagreement. We should be better than that.
From what I've seen so far, none of the proposed ways to comply with the CA age-verification requirement are even difficult to disable.
There is too much badness going on right now for this kind of vicious infighting.
Note: I wrote about all this here: https://lwn.net/Articles/1062112/
Replies (3)
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@jzb @iaruffell @ammdias
In any fascist movement, the instigators who are profiting from the infighting are fomenting "divide & conquer" media strategies.
It takes nothing for Meta to pay to launch a "hate for hire" malign influence campaign.
Just as people kept secret radios during WW2, people will form mutual aid groups to subvert these efforts at state surveillance, until we can expand the Supreme Court and get these laws overturned.
Open ##1436118
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@jzb @Npars01 @ammdias
Hate is a strong word in this context. My question is slightly sarcastic and, as a reply noted, rhetorical, but why the lack of similar readiness to comply when it comes to accessibility? It is a reasonable question!
It may be an uncomfortable one, but that is not hate!
Open ##1436119
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@jzb@hachyderm.io @Npars01@mstdn.social @iaruffell@mastodon.scot @ammdias@masto.pt This doesn't answer why FOSS feels safe ignoring the needs of disabled people while bending over backwards to aid surveillance capitalism.
Open ##3240582