General Discussion • Re: Linux has over 6% of the desktop market

Thought I would do a little update on the "Age Verification" checks status for Linux. Looks like Linux (distros) will not have to worry about this since California is making an exception for Linux.

https://www.ghacks.net/2026/05/27/calif ... ge-checks/

And yet, they simultaneously expand the tracking to the open web; https://reclaimthenet.org/california-wa ... -whole-web

California fixed the most obvious problem with its age-tracking law but replaced it with a version that follows you across the entire internet.

California Assembly Bill 1856 is getting friendly press coverage because it now exempts Linux from the state’s age-tracking mandate. The part nobody’s talking about is that it simultaneously expands the surveillance to your web browser.

Any software distributed under a license that lets users “copy, redistribute, and modify the software” would no longer be covered. Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch Linux, and Mint all walk free. That sounds like a win and tech outlets are reporting it as one. It’s also a distraction from what the bill adds.

The original law, AB 1043, required operating systems to harvest users’ ages during device setup and feed that data to app stores and app developers through a real-time API.

AB 1856 keeps all of that and extends the data pipeline to browser providers and website operators. Browsers would now be required to collect age signal data from the OS and pass it along to any website subject to online age verification laws.

[More, much more, text in the article about the how's and why's and history]