On 3/14/26 12:43 AM, [email protected] wrote:
This is bad as it'd prevent minors from using OpenBSD; they have the
right to an uncensored non-spying OS, especially with the current
political landscape. If we instead restrict this statement to only
the countries rolling out age verification laws, this will quickly
turn into the OpenBSD team playing accountant with all the countries
that decide to implement this, รก la MidnightBSD: one or more people
will have to dedicate their time to tracking each country's legalese
so they can update OpenBSD's TOS to reflect the "current list of
countries where the user has to be of legal age to use OpenBSD."
Frankly, this sounds like a huge waste of time. IMO it's best we let
this thread die out than to worry about a random law in a country
OpenBSD doesn't operate in.
No arguments that minors have a right to privacy (particularly from
anyone outside their family), and that if there is little effective
recourse (given the project is hosted outside of the applicable
jurisdiction), the ideal scenario would indeed be to ignore it and let
any subsequent threats from foreign legislators fall flat.
That said, while I'm not a lawyer, the body of law in the US and Canada
is vast, broad, and in many places woven together. Even my "suggestion"
would no doubt end up sliding down the slippery slope, devolving into
verifying ID prior to download - or something equally ridiculous.
More than anything I'm venting/illustrating the dystopian absurdity of
the situation and the need to find a solution that doesn't end up
negatively impacting anyone.
--
Achaean
TZ:Pacific
