A proposed amendment to a California law could spare open source operating systems like Linux from burdensome age verification requirements.
The original law, signed last year and due to take effect from 1st January 2027 would have required operating system providers (in California) to collect age information from users at setup.
That kind of obligation is straightforward enough for a corporation like Apple or Microsoft, but for volunteer-led open source projects with no central authority and no revenue stream, it would have been a serious problem.
The proposed amendment introduces what amounts to an exemption for software distributed under licences that allow copying, redistribution, and modification. In plain terms then, Linux distributions should be free from having to implement age checks at installation.
Why does it matter?
First – these laws risk entrenching the dominance of big tech. Only large corporations have the legal and financial resources to comply with complex age verification regimes. Open source alternatives get squeezed out.
Second – the commercial side of age verification is worth paying attention to. A small number of private companies stand to make enormous profits from state enforced identity checking. It’s a centralisation of power that should concern anyone who cares about privacy and digital freedom.
Though the story is US-focused, the underlying issues are universal. Similar pressures around age verification, platform regulation, and the incidental harm done to open source communities are already being felt in the UK and across Europe.
For more detail check out the original article:
https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/05/26/california-may-let-linux-bypass-age-check/5246575