Not such a bad idea [LWN.net]

Not such a bad idea

Posted Mar 12, 2026 16:42 UTC (Thu) by jzb (editor, #7867)
In reply to: Not such a bad idea by dskoll
Parent article: California's Digital Age Assurance Act and Linux distributions

The law is terrible, no doubt, but I think the definition of "application" is narrower than "every single application." The law defines an "application" as something that can "access a covered application store or can download an application", with an exemption for downloading extensions, etc. from an application store. Including the requirement to download applications or interact with an app store narrows what is considered "an application" considerably.

It would seem to include things like APT, DNF, flatpak, snap, GNOME Software, KDE Discover, etc., but exclude most of the software shipped with and used on a Linux distribution unless one is trying hard to stretch the definition considerably. At least that is my reading of the law; I am, of course, not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.

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Not such a bad idea

Posted Mar 12, 2026 16:52 UTC (Thu) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

Actually, it depends on your interpretation of the subordinate clause. Here's the text:

"Application" means a software application that may be run or directed by a user on a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device that can access a covered application store or download an application.

You are taking the "that can access..." clause to modify "Application". However, I read it as modifying "a computer, a mobile device, or any other general computing device that can..."

If the word "and" had been inserted before "that can", then the "that can" clause would unambiguously refer to the "Application". As it stands, I believe it refers to the computing device.

Not such a bad idea

Posted Mar 13, 2026 13:39 UTC (Fri) by misc (subscriber, #73730) [Link]

Given Flathub distributed at least one game that would surely be classified as "not for kids" (the old Katawa Shoujo package), and now distribute a new modernized version ( https://flathub.org/fr/apps/sh.fhs.ksre ), I think that at least flatpak/flathub would be covered by the spirit of the law.

I do not know if the new version is the same as the old, but nothing indicate that the content was removed, and this is easy to verify.

For people who prefer to read code, there is some code around handling adult content on https://codeberg.org/fhs/katawa-shoujo-re-engineered/src/...

For people who prefer text, I think the game/script-a4-lilly.rpy file around line 3610 would be one of the clearest place.

And for those who prefer images to text, there is some explicit pictures in one of the game/event folder.

And of course, for people who want to test the game, you can just finish it in around 8h ( https://howlongtobeat.com/game/4943 ).

IIRC, there is a option to turn on/off the NSFW part, and I do not know if this is on or off by default. But I do not think this matter that much in practice, except that this is one example where a unified API would be useful (eg, something for parental lockdown).