Technology

It’s worth writing your reps!! There’s usually an easy way to contact them via their website

Canadian here. If I can't find a Linux distro that will not comply with this bullshit law, I'll use my GrapheneOS phone and nothing else. Wouldn't be the first time in my life I used a phone for everything.

Or you could install an non US OS

I'm personally against this kind of thing, but I hate how much of a fantasy echo chamber this stuff is here. There's so much misinformation and hyperbole in this thread alone.

In general I support the idea of device-level age verification. The narrative around it uses old school methods only (this one goes with just inputting your date of birth, which I've already done for years for stuff like Steam), rather than the ID or face scan by random third parties methods used in age verification discussions and requirements elsewhere. In my opinion software being able to use an API provided by the OS itself is much better, and with the right OS (linux) much more trustworthy than any web-based solution.

My only real problem is the lack of user choice. This comes in two forms:

1. Giving your birth date should be optional. I'm fine with them requiring that no birth date given means you default to being underage, but actually giving the birthdate should be up to the user.
2. The birthdate should not be given out to random software asking for it. Either the user should be asked for permission, or only a boolean of whether they are underage or not should be provided. This bill doesn't require either of those, nor leaves it to later clarification.

kill your rights to device ownership and what’s left of free speech and expression.

I hate this shit as much as the next guy, but can we cool it with the exaggerations, please? There is no more free speech and expression in the US now because of this? What? When it comes to free speech, we're crying wolf at this point. I agree that this bill is terrible and a move in the wrong direction, but it's not exactly killing off free speech. I mean, come on. People can't take us seriously when we talk like this.

If you go to house.gov they let you look up your rep by zip code. I’d point out that the data is almost certain to be subjected to a breach, which would expose way more sensitive data than usual to whoever wanted it.