Dispatch 03 - The Age Check Is Already In Your Operating System (re-released)
Show notes
https://closednetwork.io/us-age-verification-laws-live-tracker/
- Released on main feed to consolidated from the dispatch feed.
- systemd PR #40954 — a birthDate field in JSON user records, merged 18 March 2026. The PR explicitly names AB 1043, SB26-051 and Brazil's Lei 15.211. Revert attempt (#41179) rejected; Lennart Poettering's position is that the field is optional and systemd "enforces zero policy."
- MidnightBSD shipped the first native age-bracket subsystem in any OS — aged(8) daemon, agectl(8) CLI, agev(3) library, four Unix groups gating package installs. Self-declared only, no ID, no network calls. Their own community called it "Orwellian." The same project's licence now bars residents of Brazil and, from January, California.
- Three US states have enacted OS/device-level age signal laws: California AB 1043 (eff. 1 Jan 2027), Colorado SB26-051 (substantive duties 1 Jul 2028), Illinois P.A. 104-0664 (eff. 1 Jan 2028, $50,000 per violation).
- Only Colorado exempts open source — and the test is whether you're permitted to install your own modified build, not which licence you picked. It's an anti-lockdown rule, not a paperwork rule.
- That exemption exists because of one meeting. System76's Carl Richell met co-sponsor Sen. Matt Ball, who suggested excluding open source.
- California AB 1856 would add the same carve-out to AB 1043. Suspense hearing 13 August 2026.
- Texas SB 2420 (app store age verification) is in force. Fifth Circuit stayed the injunction 4 June, SCOTUS declined to vacate in July, merits argued 4 August 2026 — decision pending. The panel applied intermediate scrutiny and reasoned that "the 'payment' for apps that are purportedly 'free' is access to user data and private information."
- Brazil's Lei 15.211 has been in force since 17 March 2026 — currently the only OS-level regime actually operating anywhere.
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