Are you f**king kidding?

TL;DR

California and Colorado passed laws forcing operating systems to verify user ages, threatening open-source software with fines up to $7,500 per affected minor.

Key Points

• 1.California's AB requires OS providers to collect age/birthdate during setup by July 1, 2027, and signal users' age brackets to all downloaded apps
• 2.Fines reach $2,500 per minor affected, and $7,500 per minor for intentional violations — applied to OS and app store developers
• 3.Open-source projects like Midnight BSD are already updating licenses to ban California residents entirely, since they can't feasibly verify ages
• 4.Canonical (Ubuntu) has no concrete plan to comply, calling internal community proposals "informal conversations" — leaving open-source maintainers in legal limbo
• 5.Age bracket signals passed to apps on install reverse Apple's privacy protections, giving developers demographic data they previously couldn't access
• 6.The creator urges US developers to contact representatives via contactreps.org or house.gov, arguing a single informed email from a developer can stop bad tech legislation