Every single Linux kernel currently operating within the borders of any of these states should turn itself off and refuse to boot until an update is installed after these bills are rolled back.

We should also update all FOSS license terms to explicitly exclude Meta or any affilites from using any software licensed under them.

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someguyiguess 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I probably don't have all the info on the various laws across the US and EU that are being pushed, but I'm confused why Linux distros don't just update their licensing and add a notice on the installation screen that it is illegal to run their OS in places where these laws exist?

Heck, Linus Torvalds should just add an amendment to the next release of the Linux Kernel that makes it illegal to use in any jurisdiction that requires age verification laws.

This would obviously cause such a massive disruption (especially in California) that the age laws would have to be rolled back immediately.

This seems like a no-brainer to me but I am admittedly ignorant on this situation. I'm sure there's a good reason why this isn't happening if anyone cares to explain.

	▲	PeterisP an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That would be a violation of the copyright law or the GPL licence - you aren't permitted to take GPL code and redistribute it with some extra restrictions added on to it. If it's not (fully) your code, you aren't free to set the licence conditions; Linus can't do that without getting approval from 100% (not 99% or so) of authors who contributed code. What one can do is add an informative disclaimer saying "To the best of our knowledge, installing or running this thing in California is prohibited - we permit to do whatever you want with it, but how you'll comply with that law is your business".
	▲	bregma an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		The Linux kernel is licensed GPLv2. The GPLv2 license forbids adding addition terms that further restrict the use of the software. A "Linux distro" is not the Linux kernel. It's possible for some distros to add such license terms to their distribution media, but others like Debian and Debian-based ones adhere to the GPL so no go.
	▲	gzread an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Because they want market share, and throwing a hissyfit over being asked to add an "I am over 18" checkbox is not good PR. If Debian starts refusing to work in California because it doesn't want to add a checkbox, it will simply be replaced by someone who adds that checkbox and doesn't throw the fit.
	▲	mvdwoord an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Would be funny indeed... And also curious why nobody does that.

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ivanjermakov an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> should turn itself off

If this was somehow introduced without anyone noticing and deployed, imagine the damage it would cause.

If we're fantasizing here, I like to imagine two major OS makers trying to comply these laws, fail miserably, and let FOSS OSes and kernels more recognition in the desktop market.

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user_7832 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Honestly, like the Left-pad incident [1], getting things to go suddenly dark is extremely effective at getting people to drop everything else to fix an issue.

Ideally, getting these servers to auto turn off the day this goes into effect ("In compliance with this new law, Linux is now temporarily unusable. Please <call to action>.") would be glorious for getting the bill staved off, or killed.

It would hurt some productivity, but that is a risk these lawmakers taking donations are probably willing to make.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_left-pad_incident

	▲	edgyquant 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It would make people move quickly to use a forked version of the kernel and would be an all around blunder by the Linux foundation
	▲	voidUpdate 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		"some"? It would hurt a lot of productivity lol. If all linux boxes turned themselves off suddenly, I think the internet would fall over pretty fast. I dont know how much of the internet runs on windows or apple (or others), but I cant imagine it's very much
	▲	officeplant an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It still blows my mind that anyone trusts npm after this whole incident.

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edgyquant 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Someone would just submit a patch overriding this

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anymouse123456 24 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Obviously not a serious proposal, but I do like the alt mentioned below:

Update the terms to indicate that you can do what you want, but this OS is probably not compliant with states run by evil dipshits.