Not such a bad idea [LWN.net]

Not such a bad idea

Posted Mar 12, 2026 18:48 UTC (Thu) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630)
In reply to: Not such a bad idea by farnz
Parent article: California's Digital Age Assurance Act and Linux distributions

This is the best solution I've heard so far. As long as it was made optional for devices to comply, I would support this.

Optional so that parents who want this for their kids can have it, but for adults who don't want it not to have it on their systems. And of course, web sites that advertise the age restrictions would have to be indemnified against people using devices that ignore the restrictions.

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Not such a bad idea

Posted Mar 12, 2026 19:21 UTC (Thu) by farnz (subscriber, #17727) [Link]

The hard part is selling the "optional to comply" bit to legislators - the whole reason this mess is happening is that they want to protect children from unsuitable content, while still permitting adults freedom to access that same content.

The best I can see you getting is some variation on the theme of "the default restrictions match the age of the buyer, if known" - that way, if an adult buys a device, the device doesn't enforce, but if a child buys a device, it must enforce child restrictions on them.