This article reports on MidnightBSD's decision to exclude California residents from desktop use due to the Digital Age Assurance Act, quoting the maintainer's statement that compliance would violate user privacy. The content advocates for digital privacy rights and frames software access as a freedom of expression issue. The evaluation shows positive engagement with Articles 12 (privacy), 19 (expression), and 27 (cultural participation), while structural tracking scripts create a minor tension with the privacy advocacy.
> The DB48X project intends to rebuild and improve the user experience of the HP48 family of calculators
They just updated their license to exclude California residents. The law is so vague there is a possibility to apply it against the project, per project team.
I envision sysadmins rebooting 10,000 servers, each one asking to verify the op's age, and even better, each time a web server forks off a process. (OK, this is hyperbole, but sometimes you need hyperbole to point out absurdity)
But not to worry. Very large companies "somehow" manage to get exemptions adn carve-outs from California laws that burden most of us. It's the golden rule. Whoever has the gold, rules. (stares at PG&E bill)
Do you remember the disappearing "billionaire tax"?
No idea how this will affect much of FOSS, for example, source code and binary repo's being blocked (I haven't read all the fine print).
"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head (with a camera, thank you) but spare free and open source operating systems, I said."
This, frankly ridiculous situation perfectly illustrates the significance of free software ideology as opposed to open source and other ideologies. Over the years, the concept has been attacked, ridiculed, deemphasized and dismissed through sustained vilification campaigns in the name of being too political, too ideological, too purist and too extreme. I have witnessed even personal attacks made against its proponents.
Open source philosophy emphasizes the sharing and openness of code source so that the collaboration improves its availability and quality. For free software on the other hand, openness is only a means to an end. In fact, you're not even required to distribute the source. You need to supply it only to the users of your software, and only if they request it. Free software instead focuses on the concept of computing freedom. The idea that the computing devices you own MUST do only what you want, and anything you want (within the limits of technological possibilities).
In practice, free software ideology and open source ideology achieve nearly identical results. Most open source software are free software. Most OSS licenses qualify as free software license too. But free software philosophy raises an important question that OSS philosophy doesn't. Does the software do what you want? Does it work in your interests as a device owner? Over time, we saw the emergence of software that are open, but harms your interests in multiple ways. Examples include AOSP, Chromium, VSCode, etc. And yet, we falsely call them FOSS.
And now when governments and corporations implement measures and laws that take away our freedom to use the devices we paid for and supposedly own in ways we want, the OSS philosophy rarely questions their sanctity. Sure, there is some opposition from the OSS community to these measures, but they are mostly based on practical issues like the inability to enforce the restrictions or to face its consequences.
However, these restrictions are antithetical to the free software philosophy in a more fundamental, ideological and political way. Had it been the dominant philosophy among the two, there would have been a bigger push back in the name of violation of our rights and freedoms. This is why our stances, ideologies and politics with respect to technology matters.
The loss of emphasis on free software philosophy has blunted our opposition a bit. Free software proponents were screaming about such eventualities from the beginning. But they were dismissed as eccentric. And that brings us to the sustained vilification campaigns I talked about earlier. It was clear from the beginning that these campaigns were coordinated by moneyed interests. They don't want us to have strong opinions or political beliefs about what we do, lest we revolt when they exploit us for resources or force us to do their bidding. Always be wary of people who argue against the interests of the common. Who knows what lurks under the sheep skin?
Doesn't this law just let parents set up age-labelled accounts for their children with the idea that apps not suitable for children won't be allowed under those accounts?
Seems no worse than what mobile OSes already do and not that bad a feature for a modern general use OS (except if you monitor someone's age bracket and noticed the exact day they change, you can work out their precise date of birth.) It does seem unsuitable to force it to be added to embedded OSes, freedos, CP/M and historical/retro OSes in general.
I guess it is users' accounts, so service accounts are exempt? I would hate to see a headless server rebooting and waiting for an age verification from a service account at a power or water sanitation plant...
Maybe all laws should have a "dev environment", starting with the politicians. All their systems will demand their age and proof of age for say 12 months? Toaster, washer, dryer, cell, dishwasher, car, calculators, etc. Then, if they still want to pass the law, 3 months of red teaming by the "general public" for all the systems that have their data. And, if they still want it, go for it.
Vilification, and arguing against common interests, isn't exactly one-sided.[0] And what's the great divide, anyway? It never seemed to me to be an disagreement about the four freedoms. Some hate that Microsot could just use BSD's TCP/IP stack and make millions, some shudder to think of the pain and suffering that would have been inflected upon humanity had they developed their own.
Strong engagement with freedom of expression/information; covers software project's protest against legislation, quotes maintainer, discusses information access restrictions.
FW Ratio: 57%
Observable Facts
Article headline announces 'MidnightBSD Excludes California from Desktop Use Due to Digital Age Assurance Act'.
Article provides detailed coverage of software project's decision and reasoning.
Schema shows article includes comment functionality with 'potentialAction': 'CommentAction'.
Site description states 'Open Source | Technology | Linux And Unix'.
Inferences
The content serves as public information dissemination about technology policy issues.
The site functions as a platform for technology news and discussion.
Comment functionality enables reader expression and dialogue.
Direct engagement with cultural/scientific participation; covers open source software development, community decision-making, and access to scientific progress.
FW Ratio: 60%
Observable Facts
Article covers open source software project MidnightBSD.
Content discusses software licensing and distribution decisions.
Site focuses on 'Open Source | Technology | Linux And Unix' content.
Inferences
The reporting highlights community-driven software development and cultural participation.
The site functions as platform for technology culture and scientific discourse.
Content discusses open source software license restriction due to government legislation; frames issue around freedom, dignity, and equality of access to technology.
FW Ratio: 60%
Observable Facts
Article headline states 'MidnightBSD Excludes California from Desktop Use Due to Digital Age Assurance Act'.
Article describes MidnightBSD modifying its license to exclude California residents from desktop use starting January 1, 2027.
Article quotes MidnightBSD maintainer stating 'We cannot comply with this law without violating the privacy of our users.'
Inferences
The framing suggests concern for user privacy as a fundamental value.
The reporting positions software freedom against government regulation.
build 1ad9551+j7zs · deployed 2026-03-02 09:09 UTC · evaluated 2026-03-02 11:31:12 UTC
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