California moves to exempt Linux from its upcoming age-verification law after backlash over forcing operating systems to collect users’ ages — amendment proposed by the same lawmaker who wrote the original law
California lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Digital Age Assurance Act that would exempt most open-source operating systems from its age-verification requirements. This change follows significant backlash from privacy advocates and the open-source community, who argued the original law was too broad and could force projects like Linux to implement user age tracking. While most Linux distributions are expected to be exempt, the amendment's language suggests that platforms with proprietary app ecosystems, such as SteamOS, may still be subject to the law. AI
IMPACT Narrows scope of age-verification laws for open-source software, potentially impacting how AI models distributed via these platforms are regulated.
