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California bill AB 1856 exempts Linux and other open-source OSes from Digital Age Assurance Act; commercial OSes stay in scope
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California's legislature passed AB 1856, which excludes open-source operating systems from the upcoming Digital Age Assurance Act's age-verification requirements, while Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android remain subject to the 2025 law.
For engineers building or distributing open-source operating systems, this exemption removes a compliance burden that community-driven projects would struggle to implement. Commercial OS vendors still face age-verification mandates for California users under the same law.
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AB 1856 exempts open-source operating systems like Linux from California's Digital Age Assurance Act age-verification requirements.
Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android remain subject to the 2025 age-verification law.
Only one feed carried this story, and the available material provides no detail on how the law defines 'open-source operating system' or what specific requirements fall on in-scope platforms.
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