The best approach in my opinion is that of Ageless Linux. Report back something that overwhelms their systems with errors.
It will report back, age unknown to the state.
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People who think they are living in a democracy are living in a pipe dream. That is why I donât vote.
My Dad was a Master Window Cleaner and one of his contracts included the local Police Station. Back in the '60âs a Constable told my Dad that he had looked in the Stationâs safe while the Sergeant was out. He found a file on himself which contained more information on him than he knew about himself.
There is a good video on YouTube about the downside of age verification that will actually aid grooming which no one is talking about:
Yes I can see a tenfold increase in ID Theft if such laws are passed.
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POST CENSORED
All, given the nature of this subject it is advisable to keep the posts slightly less provocative. We are getting complaints from other users on the excessively aggressive comments in some of the posts. The best option for you would be to pursue the protests with the political representative in your areas. Letâs not turn the forum into a forum for political protest. Voice your opinion but be sensitive to the views of all sides. First and foremost, this forum is a place for technical discussion about /e/OS.
Iâm not sure what was âoffensiveâ about my post, I wasnât targeting anyone.
However, many of us here are concerned about the stance the project takes on this issue. Will you stand up for your users like Graphene recently has or will you obey the laws of these states pushing for total control of our hardware and lives?
We obey laws of the land as long as the laws are reasonable and justified and in the interest of the users. If we come up against unreasonable and unjustified rules and regulations, which are against the core values we believe in then we would always value the privacy of our users first and foremost. This goes without saying.
As I mentioned earlier do not use this forum to turn it into a us against them platform and discuss hypothetical scenarios. Decisions are made based on situations we face. If we come up against such restrictive rules, we will always side by our users.
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With all the rampant fraud that this will cause, is it really in the best interests of the user?
See also:
(You can always use DeepL App to translate the above web page content, unless you have a browser with built-in âtranslate this pageâ.)
I think it is time for all users to join the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
(You should also take time to read all the linked articles at the bottom of the above page.)
Meta has used dubious methods in the US to get what they want, so it is fine for them to assume the âmoral high groundâ to deflect their failures to protect minors and to monopolise the market (and take away parents rights to parent by using OpenDNS). This debacle could have been avoided, parents are not IT savvy, they need to have the necessary information, not legislation that hands more power to corporates than constituency representatives who are unable to think things through:
From Brave A.I. search engine:
" Meta is the central entity behind a coordinated $2 billion lobbying campaign to push age verification laws across 45 U.S. states, according to a forensic investigation by researcher âupper-upâ using public records.
- Funding Mechanism : Meta funneled at least $70 million through fragmented super PACs and nonprofit shells (like the Digital Childhood Alliance) to evade Federal Election Commission (FEC) transparency rules.
- Lobbying Strategy : The campaign used 59,736 donor-advised fund (DAF) recipients and $2 billion in dark money grants traced through the Arabella Advisors network, which operates multiple entities from a single Washington, DC, office.
- Regulatory Capture : Proposed laws require OS-level age verification APIs from Apple and Google, creating permanent surveillance infrastructure, while Metaâs own platforms are exempt âa clear competitive advantage.
- Privacy Impact : These bills mandate uploading government IDs and facial recognition data to commercial third-party vendors , creating honeypot databases. In contrast, the EU uses privacy-preserving zero-knowledge proofs âa technically feasible alternative not adopted in the U.S.
- Consequences : The compliance burdenâestimated at $100K to $2M per year âis unaffordable for small platforms, indie developers, and open-source projects, effectively killing pseudonymity and consolidating the internet on big platforms .
This is not about child safetyâitâs about corporate control of the internet , using government to build surveillance infrastructure that benefits Meta while harming competitors and user privacy.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts."
If it were down to me I would ban all social media platforms as it is eroding âdemocracyâ ⌠whatever that is.
Thankfully my website is low ranking. Why? BecausecI make it quite plain at the bottom of each page: âNot on social mediaâ.
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Iâve just started using Protonâs free VPN on Android. If you donât need streaming, use RiseUP! on the computer, also free. VPNâs are a pain though if you need to order anything or view a UK website.
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Also make banking a pain - I donât bank on my mobile, too much security risk. But when I forget to disconnect the VPN on my desktop, the bank web app freaks out.
It makes sense, if youâre suddenly trying to log in from across the world or country.
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I donât use VPN on the desktop. For banking (only used it to setup another account) I use Vivaldi. When finished I delete all history and any other related settings. I still require paper statements and use phone banking when it comes to payments.
With the impending move to digital landlines I switched to FTTH and had the landline removed, not just because of copper wire but to save on having three handsets permanently on charge. Electricity rates per Kwh are 3 more times the cost of Gas, but with current world events, essentials (food) are more important than Tech.
Iâve already seen one headline that forecasts the world economy hitting a brick wall within two months. Perhaps this is all part of the Global reset. Perhaps 2030 is too far away for some when you will âown nothing and be happyâ (WEF).
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Cool news: Nym VPN now offers anonymous payments via GNU Taler for Swiss users. Much safer and easier than mailing around cash in envelopes.
Disclaimer: I have not looked into how trustworthy the company behind Nym VPN is.
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**Hi, as user and enthusiast of e/OS on my Pixel phone, I would like to know from Murena whatâs their take on age verification on this operating system, if it will be implemented or not.
I think it will be fair toward users and buyers of your devices on which side Murena stands.
Many thanks.**
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How is Murena a party in this? Itâs between the user and VPN provider or other online service provider if I understand it correctly.
I created a separate topic but then admins merged it into this which doesnât offer any answer.
My question was simple and clear and had nothing to do with VPN. It refers to age verification at OS level and deserved a simple answer. YES or NOT.
But maybe Murena does not want to take a side (just yet) in something E/OS / user would like and need to know. GrapheneOS has made it loud and clear, donât understand why Murena is still vague about it.
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We will put out an official statement when it becomes relevant in all regions.
For now, the issue with age validation is
1.To be implement in California from 2027 and impacts devices sold there if any.
2. Also does not relate to OS downloads
While Iâm sure Murena is sympathetic to any cause related to standing up for privacy, political activism is really another discipline and requires other expertises from an organisation.
Iâm not entirely sure where your based but Iâm thinking of for example Bits of Freedom.
An isp such as xs4all also used to be very active and litigious on this front. Iâm not sure if their spiritual successor has found the time and/or finances to do the same, but these are just examples.
Other than that there are consumers rights organisations that also for example sue big tech for their privacy failings.
TBH I was expecting a bit more than just Letâs wait and see from a company which makes privacy priority for its users.
Iâve installed e/OS on my mobile on this promise but your vague position on this matter may makes me regret to favour your OS to others.
Once age checks move from websites to app stores and then into the OS itself, this becomes a privacy and software freedom issue, not just a safety policy debate.
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I have used online methods for my home admin for years, even if very securely. But, recently I have changed my current account to phone banking and paper statements. I am in the process of changing all my utilities to paper statements - many bills can be paid at the post office. I just renewed my car tax by phone. I have also just bought 2 dumb phones in case one day my murena eos phone also insists on id verification.
I have also made modifications to my laptops to remove possible parts of the OS that might be used to implement this, such as removing gnome online accounts and parental controls features.
I am hoping by the time my laptop demands some flavour of ID verification from me, I will be doing as few necessary tasks online as possible and will be in a better position to just refuse it. And I will be refusing!
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I have just had my old iphone unlocked by Apple. It had somehow become locked after I changed to my Murena phone and stopped using it.
My husband is going away and was going to take it instead of his eos fp5, as I was worried it might get lost or stolen.
However, now, it is completely unusable without a payment card registered in the Apple wallet or ID being uploaded. I though it could be used as a basic phone (child mode) which would have been fine. But, this is not possible - âchild modeâ only works if the phone is registered as part of family sharing, and family sharing can only be set up by an adult whose own phone has already been id verified. So, in practice, it remains locked.
In case you donât realise, I am located in the UK. Perhaps I can sell it - it might be of some use to someone?