BBS:      TELESC.NET.BR
Assunto:  Age verification in OS
De:       Grant Weasner
Data:     Tue, 10 Mar 2026 23:09:00 -0700
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  Re: Age verification in OS
  By: Ron L. to All on Wed Mar 04 2026 07:45:32

Hi Ron,

I'm glad you wrote about this.

 > So if you haven't been looking around lately, there is a troubling push from
 > some gov't's:  Age Verification
 > It's unknown if they will make Micro$oft revamp MS-DOS for our vintage
 > computers to include this feature.
 > But I guess CP/M will be safe for a while since DRI is gone.
 > I have no idea how they will make this work on TRS-80's and Commodores,
 > though.

I myself don't understand how their idea of a bill got put into ink, and law. The very OS types you mention, will compell users to abandon, if state prosecutors start bringing up civil cases.

The other crazy thing is, its a civil issue, which means most people dragged into court will likely have to represent themselves or pay for an attorney, which would also be an insult even if the defendant won the case.

The law on the books really bothers me because general purpose computers are everywhere and the nature of general purpose means different OS types and degrees, even to the point where some computers are configured as IOT, or specific puropse, could also be general purpose, or running a general multi user OS, but acting as single purpose (IOT). My TV has a general purpose computer running on it (ubuntu). Now my TV is supposed to ask my age, eventhough manufacture out of China doesn't care to update it (maybe they will make and update for CA :).

The crafters of the bill just didn't seem to consult with any computing engineers.
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