The user needs to tell the system what their age is, so if I get up and a 15yo sits on the computer, they need to change the environment variable before starting any program.
No need for higher privs.
In every OS I know of including linux, you need admin/su rights to create a user account. If the age is tied to the account that at least prevents tampering without admin/su access.
But does the law require that?
From the interpretations I have seen, it doesn’t even require real verification, just a way to tell the app, the age of the user.
So as a parent, you want every person on planet Earth, making a software, to bear the burden of making sure your child cannot use their software without your consent?
You already have the option to buy something with parental controls.
You can also pay someone to add a parental control feature into an Open Source OS and install it for you.
Honestly, no. I’m aware there are other options. But if the govt is mandating something, I’d rather it made sense. Demanding everyone set an env var is nonsense.
I will object when this BS heads out my way eventually, of course. But if some law gets passed requiring the OS to be able to tell programs the age of the user, I would vastly prefer it just be something set by the sysadmin at account creation, and that the user not be able to change it themself. That last part mainly because if the user can change it themself, even braindead politicians will realise it is not doing anything and they will legislate something else. Probably something worse.
I suspect something the nonprivileged user can effortlessly change would be deemed insufficient. :P
The user needs to tell the system what their age is, so if I get up and a 15yo sits on the computer, they need to change the environment variable before starting any program.
No need for higher privs.
In every OS I know of including linux, you need admin/su rights to create a user account. If the age is tied to the account that at least prevents tampering without admin/su access.
But does the law require that?
From the interpretations I have seen, it doesn’t even require real verification, just a way to tell the app, the age of the user.
Honestly I’m not sure. I feel like I’d want that as a parent tho, personally.
So as a parent, you want every person on planet Earth, making a software, to bear the burden of making sure your child cannot use their software without your consent?
You already have the option to buy something with parental controls.
You can also pay someone to add a parental control feature into an Open Source OS and install it for you.
But you’d rather use the politician?
Honestly, no. I’m aware there are other options. But if the govt is mandating something, I’d rather it made sense. Demanding everyone set an env var is nonsense.
I’d rather the govt. not go around mandating stuff that only empowers those who want to use it as an excuse for mass-AI-voyeurism.
Sadly I don’t think that’s on the cards. :(
I will object when this BS heads out my way eventually, of course. But if some law gets passed requiring the OS to be able to tell programs the age of the user, I would vastly prefer it just be something set by the sysadmin at account creation, and that the user not be able to change it themself. That last part mainly because if the user can change it themself, even braindead politicians will realise it is not doing anything and they will legislate something else. Probably something worse.