38
Linux and open source getting age checking exemptions could be problematic
(www.gamingonlinux.com)
this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
38 points (76.4% liked)
Linux
13853 readers
177 users here now
A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system (except the memes!)
Also, check out:
Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The whole assumption in this article is that any age gated apps are worth sticking with for some wondrous reason.
No thanks.
It also lists drm issues and unsupported anticheat mechanisms as a supportive argument.
Whole thing is tone deaf.
Maybe that’s the point? Engagement farming? Not sure.
Either way, no thanks on any of those.
for us open source nerds, sure.
but telling people interested in linux but still using windows/macos that most things they use also works on linux, as we have done for the past decade, only to have the corporate internet be inaccessible to them if the, end up doing a blanket ban on non-age-verified/verifiable devices.
unless of course you truly are a foss puritan and expect people to throw away every proprietary bit when switching to linux, in that case, lovely weather to die on hills
It seems you did not read the article. I don't see anyone being on the side of these age verification laws. What they are saying is that the laws are bad for Linux and it's users even if Linux was left out of the laws' scope.
Thanks, I removed my comment because it made no sense in the context. Appreciate the pointer!
If services start just blocking Linux, that is really bad for Linux users and adoption rates. It does not matter what apps you personally think are worth sticking with. It will just make Linux worse for everyone.
The point of this article is clear: that these laws are a problem to Linux and everyone even if Linux is left out of the scope.
I feel like I’m losing my mind. The internet isnt dying we are killing it with everything for a long time now I just seems like I’m not living in a reality. I read news articles, interact with the internet, apps, my phone. Whatever, and it’s all so bad, things are getting so bad,
This is crazy right? I’ve been working on de-goggling which in very close. But their search thing; who wants that? It sounds awful. Not to mention how it’s going to kill traffic to other sites. The AI nightmare? Seems like everything is getting vibe coded to hell. And I don’t trust it. I don’t trust it to work, I don’t trust it to be secure, I don’t trust updates to fix things. Now this censorship shit or being so heavily pushed, constantly, constantly, constantly, constantly pushing.
Here is some article that’s like “it’s good actually and open source is wrong”? Are there really people out there like this? I’m not talking your parents who use crapgpt for what’s the weather or whatever; but like people who know and want this?
Did you read it? I do not see this "is good actually and open source is wrong" anywhere, it seems you misunderstood something. Calm down and have a nice day!
Did you read it?
I’m talking about this part:
Which seems to imply that they think open source projects should do it because they will face adoption issue. Which might be true, but really we need to stop these laws from happening in the first place. I will grant that the poster does not attribute foot nor bad to the situation.
What I think everyone is trying to tell you is that nobody is disagreeing with this sentiment. These laws are bad, I doubt the poster of the article would disagree. What is trying to be said here is if these laws go into affect (which is bad), and they exempt Linux (which seems good), they will quite possibly condemn Linux to an even smaller niche of tech nerds than it already belongs to and that is bad for Linux being a desktop platform, and it may be better for Linux to comply for its survival as a desktop platform. That is all that's being said here, nobody is arguing the merits of the laws.
I for my part do need web search. Couldn't even tell you halve the marketplaces that exist and am not going to cross reference by hand when looking for something.
I guess you can just go to Elsevier for your knowledge needs but that's hella pricy and sometimes worse than what could be found on the web.
The author is not in favor of DRM or age verification on linux. They are simply pointing out the implications of the proposed exemptions. The real problem is that these sort of invasions of privacy are being considered AT ALL. Nomatter how they are implemented, they will be horrible for everyone except big brother.
I could see Steam getting forced by legislators to use age verification.
That would be a pretty major headache for Linux users.