--- title: "California’s age verification law applies to Linux, FreeBSD, and FreeDOS too" url: https://daily.dev/posts/california-s-age-verification-law-applies-to-linux-freebsd-and-freedos-too-s05pz4jbv source_url: https://allthingsopen.org/articles/age-verification-law-open-source-ab-1043 type: article source: "All Things Open" published: 2026-06-30T08:04:53.508Z updated: 2026-06-30T08:05:21.085Z tags: ["open-source", "linux", "licensing"] reading_time: 7 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # California’s age verification law applies to Linux, FreeBSD, and FreeDOS too **[All Things Open](https://daily.dev/sources/allthingsopen)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary California's AB 1043, the Digital Age Assurance Act taking effect January 1, 2027, requires operating systems and app stores to implement age verification and pass age signals to applications. Its broad definition of 'operating system provider' inadvertently covers open source projects like Linux, FreeBSD, and FreeDOS, exposing maintainers to fines of $2,500–$7,500 per affected child. A proposed amendment, AB 1856, would explicitly exempt open source operating systems distributed under licenses permitting copying, redistribution, and modification. The author urges developers to contact state and federal representatives to prevent similarly broad laws from passing elsewhere, noting Colorado's SB26-051 and the federal Parents Decide Act as comparable concerns. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#licensing](https://daily.dev/tags/licensing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/california-s-age-verification-law-applies-to-linux-freebsd-and-freedos-too-s05pz4jbv)