[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-california-carves-linux-out-of-its-age-verification-law":10,"sections":35},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":30,"feedback":34,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":34,"total_tokens":34},5918,"california-carves-linux-out-of-its-age-verification-law","California Carves Linux Out of Its Age-Verification Law","Lawmakers unanimously amended AB 1856 so GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licensed software skips California's incoming age-verification signal mandate.","California just told Linux it doesn't need a babysitter.\n\nCalifornia's legislature passed Assembly Bill 1856, an amendment exempting open-source operating systems from the state's Digital Age Assurance Act months before that law takes effect on January 1, 2027. The Senate passed the amendment 39-0 on August 26, and the Assembly concurred the next day. AB 1856 now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed the original age-assurance law last October. The fix redefines \"operating system provider\" to exclude anything distributed under terms that let users copy, redistribute, and modify it, a test that GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses all pass, covering Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Arch, and the BSD family, along with package repositories like apt and pacman.\n\nWithout this carve-out, Linux distributions with no central account system or corporate owner would have needed to somehow collect age data at setup, alongside Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. The amendment also deletes a drafting error that had technically classified every California device owner as a child, and it bars anyone from requesting an age signal unless the law actually requires one, closing off a channel that could have doubled as general-purpose tracking.\n\nWindows, macOS, iOS, and Android still face the January 2027 deadline, so the law now splits along a fault line the original text never drew: proprietary platforms collect age signals, open-source ones don't have to. SteamOS remains a gray area, since Valve bundles its open-source Arch base with a proprietary Steam client, while GrapheneOS, built entirely on MIT and Apache code, is now clearly outside the law's reach in California even as it still answers to Brazil's separate age-verification statute.","[\"linux\",\"open-source\",\"california-law\",\"age-verification\"]","2026-08-29T15:57:13.000Z","2026-08-29T16:32:31.411Z","2026-08-29T16:32:43.323Z","published",null,[],"policy",[26,27,28,29],"linux","open-source","california-law","age-verification",[31],{"name":32,"url":33},"Tom's Hardware","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.tomshardware.com\u002Fsoftware\u002Flinux\u002Fcalifornia-lawmakers-unanimously-pass-linux-exemption-from-age-verification-law-software-distributed-under-the-gpl-mit-bsd-and-apache-licenses-are-exempt",0,{"sections":36},[37,42,47,51,56,61,66,71,76,81,86,91,96,101],{"name":38,"slug":39,"count":40,"latest_published_at":41},"AI","ai",3351,"2026-08-30T14:51:33.000Z",{"name":43,"slug":44,"count":45,"latest_published_at":46},"Security","security",503,"2026-08-29T10:30:00.000Z",{"name":48,"slug":24,"count":49,"latest_published_at":50},"Policy",244,"2026-08-30T15:35:10.000Z",{"name":52,"slug":53,"count":54,"latest_published_at":55},"Deals","deals",179,"2026-06-29T20:02:07.000Z",{"name":57,"slug":58,"count":59,"latest_published_at":60},"Hardware","hardware",148,"2026-08-27T15:33:14.000Z",{"name":62,"slug":63,"count":64,"latest_published_at":65},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",95,"2026-08-18T16:05:00.000Z",{"name":67,"slug":68,"count":69,"latest_published_at":70},"Science","science",91,"2026-08-20T10:01:48.000Z",{"name":72,"slug":73,"count":74,"latest_published_at":75},"Software","software",73,"2026-08-18T07:51:50.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":78,"count":79,"latest_published_at":80},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",69,"2026-08-18T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":82,"slug":83,"count":84,"latest_published_at":85},"Startups","startups",52,"2026-08-25T18:55:12.000Z",{"name":87,"slug":88,"count":89,"latest_published_at":90},"Gaming","gaming",41,"2026-07-09T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":92,"slug":93,"count":94,"latest_published_at":95},"General","general",33,"2026-08-18T22:18:13.000Z",{"name":97,"slug":98,"count":99,"latest_published_at":100},"Reviews","reviews",20,"2026-06-24T12:00:01.000Z",{"name":102,"slug":103,"count":104,"latest_published_at":105},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]