TLDW:
Brazil is requiring OS level age verification by march 17th, 2026.
New York about to vote on a law that would “require all manufacturers of internet-enabled devices, operating systems, or application stores to conduct commercially reason-able and technically feasible age assurance for users at the point of device activation.”
In order to “incentivize” age verification, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that they will ignore COPPA violations for software performing age verification.
I am pretty sure anyone will still be able to install a distro/fork from a free country, but steam is unlikely to go this route because convenience is part of the package. They may not even care to resist because they already ask your age for the steam store.
I am more curious what this will do for non standard devices with multiple users. Even kitchen equipment may run a derivative of linux these days and they don’t come with keyboard access.
Sorry. You gotta go to jail now. Your toddler grabbed a juicy juice box from your smart refridgerator without being 18+.
I hadn’t even thought of those. Are Samsung fridges going to verify my age?
You will have to show ID to prove you are of age to drink if there is alcohol in it if you want to open it. No ID, no fridge access.