Parents Decide Act (H.R. 8250)
www.govtrack.us
To require operating system providers to verify the age of any user of an operating system, and for other purposes.

So, OS-level age-gating is going federal, which will effectively kill your rights to device ownership and what’s left of free speech and expression.

Enjoy your free speech while you still have it because this is a clear attempt to erase that right.

SOPA never died, it just went into hiding until time to reemerge, and now’s that time, this is basically SOPA in a save the kids trenchcoat.

  • credoEnglish
    15·
    2 hours ago

    If you read this law bill in the strictest way, it makes almost no sense. It says that anyone who makes or controls an operating system has to check the age of every person who uses it. But it does not limit this to big companies. That could mean volunteers who help build Debian or even someone at home making their own version of Linux. The law bill would expect them to build a system that asks for (and verifies) a birthday before you can use the computer.

    It gets even stranger with websites like GitHub. If someone downloads shared code and uses it, the person who posted it might be seen as responsible. But they have no way to know who downloaded it or what they did with it. The law bill would still expect their system to check ages and share that information with app makers.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
      17·
      1 hour ago

      Gets even more absurd when you start to dig at the definition of an ‘operating system’.

      Besides computers and phones, lots of small electronic devices have a rudimentary OS built into them, including (among many other things) a lot of appliances these days. Forget needing to verify your age in order to use your computer, say hello to needing to verify your age in order to use a refrigerator … or a gas pump.