The libreCMC Project's Age Attestation Statement

Given modern events and legislation[1] working its way through various state legislatures, it's important to be vigilant about new threats toward the Free Software movement and ones right to control their computing. While many of these threats are from the state, many within our own community have started to implement Age Attestation mechanisms[2] in core components that make up many GNU/Linux distributions. It's important now more than ever to speak out against vendors implementing this malicious software that subjugates user control and undermines fundamental freedoms and privacy.

Many have tried to gaslight and brush off the very real concerns that many have with these new Age Attestation laws. Over the years, many have tried to push for parental controls to be the default in GNU/Linux distros and many don't want this running or to be installed on their machine by default. This round of Age Attestation legislation adds another tool that the state would have to undermine user freedom and privacy; this new infrastructure would pave the way to create a mechanism that would chill freedom of speech and freedom of expression [3].

The new Age Attestation requirement of these laws compel an operating system vendor to provide an API or "signal" to attest to a user's age bracket. This additional information can be used to identify individual users when paired with only a few other pieces of information. If users truly want this type of spyware / malware, it should be their choice to install it and not be forced by vendors to be the default, especially on those who do not reside in or have nexus to a particular jurisdiction.

This push to tie additional identifying information to individual users has the effect of squelching freedom of speech and expression. Pseudonymous speech is a fundamental cornerstone of any free democratic society and undermining this principle quickly erodes the ability to put checks on those in power. In the United States, we are currently seeing this play out with the federal government retaliating against those who dare to simply criticize the current administration's actions. ID verification and Age Attestation laws give the government the power to more easily identify political opponents and retaliate without any repercussions. As a community, we should not allow or enable Free Software to put users in jeopardy for what should be a fundamental right.

Sadly, this is not the first time Free Software has been weaponized against users. Canonical (Ubuntu) and RedHat (Fedora) currently ship telemetry that users must opt-out by default, for example. It's important to speak out against these issues and with that I call on the community to please write to your representatives and voice your concerns against these types of legislation that undermine user freedoms and abridge fundamental rights to privacy. I also urge you to voice your concerns to relevant GNU/Linux vendors and projects that are currently trying to poison the well of Free Software.

[1] Age Attestation : US states of CA, CO, NY and IL have proposed legislation which would require operating system vendors to implement an API or "signal" to attest to the age of a user of a general purpose computer.

[2] SystemD userdb and xdg-desktop-portal have proposed patches that add Age Attestation mechanisms, which would make their way into core GNU/Linux distros.

[3] Additional identifying pieces of information that seem subtle can be used to identify or tie other information to an individual user.