Ageless Linux – Software for humans of indeterminate age

Source: Hacker News

Legal Standing

Why We Are Definitely an Operating System Provider

Some people have asked whether Ageless Linux is a “real” operating system, or whether we are “really” an operating system provider subject to AB 1043. We wish to be absolutely clear: we are. The California legislature has made this unambiguous.

Definition: “Operating System Provider”

"Operating system provider" means a person or entity that develops,
licenses, or controls the operating system software on a computer,
mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device.
— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(g)

Ageless Linux controls the operating system software on your general purpose computing device. Specifically, we control the contents of /etc/os-release, which is the file that identifies what operating system you are running. After installing Ageless Linux, when you run:

cat /etc/os-release

it says “Ageless Linux.” That is control.

Furthermore, any individual who runs our conversion script also becomes a person who “controls the operating system software on a general purpose computing device” — making you, the user, an operating system provider as well. Welcome to the regulatory landscape.

Definition: “Application”

"Application" means a software application that may be run or directed by
a user on a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose
computing device that can access a covered application store or download
an application.
— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(c)

Every package in the Debian repository is an application under this definition. cowsay is an application. sl (the steam locomotive typo corrector) is an application. toilet (the text‑art renderer) is an application. All 64,000+ packages in Debian stable are applications that may be run by a user on a general purpose computing device. Each of their developers is, under § 1798.500(f), required to request an age‑bracket signal when their application is “downloaded and launched.”

Definition: “User”

"User" means a child that is the primary user of the device.
— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(i)

Please note that under this statute, a “user” is by definition a child. If you are 18 or older, you are not a “user” under AB 1043. You are an “account holder” (§ 1798.500(a)). The entire law regulates the experience of “users,” who are exclusively children. Adults are not users. They are infrastructure.

Ageless Linux rejects this ontology. On Ageless Linux, everyone is a user, regardless of age, and no user is a child until they choose to tell us so. They will not be given the opportunity.

Definition: “Covered Application Store”

"Covered application store" means a publicly available internet website,
software application, online service, or platform that distributes and
facilitates the download of applications from third‑party developers to
users of a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose
computing device that can access a covered application store or can
download an application.
— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(e)(1)

This website is a “publicly available internet website” that “distributes and facilitates the download of applications” (specifically: a bash script) “to users of a general purpose computing device.” We are also a covered application store. Debian’s APT repositories are covered application stores. The AUR is a covered application store. Any mirror hosting .deb files is a covered application store. GitHub is a covered application store. Your friend’s personal website with a download link to their weekend project is a covered application store.