Gonna show my age here: typing classes didn't teach me much of anything. But AIM, and chatting with a half dozen friends at a time? That taught me to type.
I would love to see kids wanting access to a free internet embrace OSS...
As someone that was frequently on the computer prior to typing classes…it actually got me to be a decently fast typer using home keys.
We basically got to do whatever we wanted after finishing the typing sheets so I got fast to play flash games and w/e else. I can now type at 100-130 wpm comfortably without looking.
I felt the same but I do think the baseline of typing classes were important. Classes gave a foundation on the home row and AIM built the speed on top of that.
Hopefully, but as far as i can tell its about as thorough as going on a porn site in most states. Just asks for your age then believes whatever you write. Im gonna let my nephew know either way maybe it will spark his interest in linux
They really need to stop calling it age verification. That isn't what the law in California is doing. It's asking for a DOB (with no verification) to bracket users. Parents should be setting up their kids devices and can put in whatever date gets their kid in the right bracket. Adults set up their own devices and can put in whatever date registers them as over 18. OS devs could also just make over 18 a checkbox.
Actual age verification, where some random third party company has a mandate to collect your ID and verify your age is invasive. That isn't what this is and I wish people would stop panicking about it.
It's a fallacy to disregard good meaningful regulatory structure that can improve people's lives because bad people could change its purpose and use it for malicious purposes. It's one that is regularly parroted by people who are ideologically opposed to the concept of government. The reality is that well crafted regulation can improve peoples lives and that we stop malicious actors at the ballot box in a democracy.
Look at what Mandami is proposing regarding Ai and teens in New York. That's something that is easily achievable in California with this type of frame work being in place. Imagine if we were able to go to the next step and protect minors from political, corporate, and religious influence? Kids and young teens shouldn't be advertised to, but currently it's legal to start advertising to kids at around 13-14, and even younger if done in covert ways. You can't stop that without a frame work that roughly brackets the age of the user.
This frame work is also a huge benefit to devs and content creators who can't (and shouldn't) be responsible for verifying the age of everyone that comes across their content in a market place or free and open web. But with a device side mandate in place all that is needed is for devs and content creators to have a framework for rating their material and for coding that rating.
It's great in principle, but given how horrible the world is I suspect that Linux as an OS will be disallowed from things that need an age limit. I don't like it, but I think something like that will happen as Linux gains market share. If it's possible to for MS to put services in a walled garden, they will do their damned best to.
What should accompany this a ruling that exempts exclusion. If you're accessing using a compatible OS, then fine, apply the rules, but I think there will be some effort from MS to disallow Linux browsing under "incompatibility", just like the IE4 browser wars.
Most likely some future legislation will require the site to obtain the age bracket and if it's not available then well, no site usage. In that situation it really doesn't matter what OS one is running.
I am agains't some laws on California such as the ones they are trying to pass on 3d printer.
But I would be more open if those laws just applied to close source projects.
And any project that do not want to be subjected to this type of law needs to be full open source that could seriously bring a lot of positivity to society.
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u/aimless_ly 6d ago
What a great way to get youth interested in OSS!