California moves to exempt Linux from its age-verification law after backlash - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48269961 - May 2026 (471 comments)

Colorado Amended SB051 (Age Verification Bill) to Exclude Open Source Projects - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48213651 - May 2026 (79 comments)

Colorado Adds Open-Source Exemption to Age-Verification Bill - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47905304 - April 2026 (57 comments)

> Our operating systems and apps don’t collect personal information, profile children, inject targeted ads, or create addictive design patterns.

Really this was a preventable problem all along, if Google and Apple had any standards. There was a point where Apple was going to ban ads in children's games and analytics too - probably the exact moment where we could have avoided all this, if they hadn't relented under pressure.

> “Apps in the kids category may not include third-party advertising or analytics,” the new guidelines say. Previously, the guidelines only restricted behavioral advertising tracking.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/03/apple-kid-apps-trackers/

Tell me you're a politician who has no understanding of technology, but you feel you have to do something FOR THE CHILDREN ... without telling me that.

"Well every technical person I talk to says this is impossible to implement, and gives me open source software as an example. Simple fix to preserve my bill, that won't in any way completely undermine it ... exclude OSS!"