Comment by ab_testing
9 days ago
Why are Linux operating system providers taking it upon themselves to comply with the California law especially if they are not selling anything. Since it is just a downloadable piece of software then it is up to California state to set up a firewall to protect themselves from such harmful software.
Let's say I am a generic linux developer who develops variants of Debian Linux while sitting in my basement in any part of the world.
If one country wants to ban my software because I don't ask for their age, then set up suitable protections for your citizens.
Don't force me to do that. I am not responsible for protecting your citizens.
That is like saying if Saudi wants your id to make sure only males can download operating systems, so now will I add another restriction.
At least China takes it upon themselves to ban sites that they deem harmful for their citizens rather than forcing devs.
because the laws are coming with massive fines and penalties that will apply to people not even selling anything
unless you can confidently dodge American law enforcement, which is a big ask unless you are solidly anonymous somehow, then you are forced to react in some way
These days it seems best to not be in the US or any vassal country, in order to avoid this ridiculous overreaching of "we are the center of the world" lawmakers in the US.
I think you’re replying to someone based outside of California.
There's a huge fine in North Korea, perhaps even death, for saying "Kim Jong-un is a poopyhead" but I just said it and I don't care because I'm not in North Korea and I don't do any business there.
America enforces their law all around the world. They also have a strong power to lobby and set legal trends all over the world. It's a good thing NK don't have the capability, and perhaps the will also to do so.
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Very common pattern in compliance, if you want to export to a country, (regardless of monetization method), manufacturers and distributors comply with local requirements like for example getting approved for local electrical parameters and implementing specific plugs for local sockets.
If you came to my website and downloaded something, I did not export it. Maybe you imported it, that’s on you.
But nobody 'came to your website', it's more like they sent you a letter and you mailed the package. That's exporting to me.
Consider that your server received a connection from an ISP that you know has global reach, and you sent the packages to IP addresses that are from a specific RIR and assigned to a specific country. That is if you are hosting directly if it's a third party, who knows.
Also, I am not a lawyer.
I am not a lawyer. Still, my two cents are:
You didn't geobock the download or prompt for then user's address first in your scenario. So it may constitute export because it would be reasonable to assume that you clearly intended to make it available worldwide.
Phil Zimmerman was investigated for illegaly exporting munitions because he made PGP available via FTP. The case was settled, so I don't know whether this argument would ultimately have been successful.
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I wonder whether the blast radius of the law might interfere with OSs running on cloud machines. That might explain why California based companies in the cloud business might want to ensure that the bits they resell are compliant.
This one seems to be attempting to provoke enforcement of the law against it.
Because despite the screeching, having good parental controls standardized across distros and OSS software is an idea that benefits Linux as a whole.
Parents already have full control over this because they make the choice to give their kids a device in the first place
Do they have full control or do they only have a choice between two extreme options?
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Having good parental controls would be nice. Unfortunately that does not describe AB 1043
Do you think the mechanisms required by this law, as described in the linked article, constitute ”good parental control”?
Yes, they sound reasonable and leave authonomy of using the feature to the parents while closing a massive gap that Linux distros have.
Nothing's perfect but being able to tell the os the user is say 5 and then not have sites etc. show porn seem better than nothing?
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