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John McCardle 47a3cde38e add fax your rep CYOA form and transparency page 
fax.html: seven-step wizard — address entry, legislator pick, persona
(parent/developer/student/privacy), educational walkthrough, customizable
compose with live PDF-style preview, verify, send. Expects serverless
endpoints /api/fax/lookup, /api/fax/send, /api/fax/status. Fails clean and
points to ffwf.net/contact when endpoints are absent. No mock data. OG
meta tags, share buttons, mobile responsive.

fax-transparency.html: the shame wall. 10/538 federal members with DC fax,
target-state coverage tables, 120/120 California algorithmic coverage.

Nav link added to every page. RSS entry for launch.
2026-04-18 05:53:33 -04:00

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<body>
<!-- NAV -->
<nav>
<div class="inner">
<a href="#" class="logo">AGELESS<span> LINUX</span></a>
<div class="links">
<a href="index.html" class="active">Home</a>
<a href="map.html">State Laws</a>
<a href="lobbyists.html">Lobbyists</a>
<a href="distros.html">Distros</a>
<a href="fax.html">Fax Rep</a>
<a href="download.html">Download</a>
<a href="hardware.html">Hardware</a>
<a href="citations.html">Citations</a>
</div>
</div>
</nav>
<main>
<!-- HERO -->
<div class="hero">
<div>
<div class="hero-pre">A Debian-Based Operating System</div>
<h1>Ageless<br><em>Linux</em></h1>
<p class="hero-sub">
Software for humans of indeterminate age.
We don't know how old you are. We don't want to know.
We are legally required to ask. We won't.
</p>
<div class="hero-buttons">
<a href="download.html" class="btn btn-primary">Download the OS</a>
<a href="hardware.html" class="btn btn-outline">The $12 Device</a>
</div>
<div class="hero-legal">
Ageless Linux is a registered operating system under the definitions
established by the California Digital Age Assurance Act
(AB&nbsp;1043, Chapter&nbsp;675, Statutes&nbsp;of&nbsp;2025).
We are in full, knowing, and intentional noncompliance
with the age verification requirements of Cal.&nbsp;Civ.&nbsp;Code
§&nbsp;1798.501(a).
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- LEGAL STANDING -->
<section id="legal-standing">
<div class="container">
<h2>Legal Standing</h2>
<h3>Why We Are Definitely an Operating System Provider</h3>
<p>
Some people have asked whether Ageless Linux is a "real" operating system,
or whether we are "really" an operating system provider subject to AB&nbsp;1043.
We wish to be absolutely clear: <strong>we are.</strong> The California legislature
has made this unambiguous.
</p>
<div class="card">
<h4>Definition: "Operating System Provider"</h4>
<blockquote>
"Operating system provider" means a person or entity that develops,
licenses, or controls the operating system software on a computer,
mobile device, or any other general purpose computing device.
<span class="cite">— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(g)</span>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
Ageless Linux <strong>controls the operating system software</strong> on your
general purpose computing device. Specifically, we control the contents of
<code>/etc/os-release</code>, which is the file that identifies what operating
system you are running. After installing Ageless Linux, when you run
<code>cat /etc/os-release</code>, it says "Ageless Linux." That is control.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Furthermore, any individual who runs our conversion script <em>also</em>
becomes a person who "controls the operating system software on a general
purpose computing device" — making <strong>you</strong>, the user, an operating
system provider as well. Welcome to the regulatory landscape.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4>Definition: "Application"</h4>
<blockquote>
"Application" means a software application that may be run or directed by
a user on a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose
computing device that can access a covered application store or download
an application.
<span class="cite">— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(c)</span>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
Every package in the Debian repository is an application under this definition.
<code>cowsay</code> is an application. <code>sl</code> (the steam locomotive typo corrector)
is an application. <code>toilet</code> (the text art renderer) is an application.
All 64,000+ packages in Debian stable are applications that may be run by
a user on a general purpose computing device. Each of their developers is,
under <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(f)</span>, required to request
an age bracket signal when their application is "downloaded and launched."
</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4>Definition: "User"</h4>
<blockquote>
"User" means a child that is the primary user of the device.
<span class="cite">— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(i)</span>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
Please note that under this statute, a "user" is <em>by definition</em> a child.
If you are 18 or older, you are not a "user" under AB&nbsp;1043. You are
an "account holder" (<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(a)</span>).
The entire law regulates the experience of "users," who are exclusively children.
Adults are not users. They are infrastructure.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Ageless Linux rejects this ontology. On Ageless Linux, everyone is a user,
regardless of age, and no user is a child until they choose to tell us so.
They will not be given the opportunity.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4>Definition: "Covered Application Store"</h4>
<blockquote>
"Covered application store" means a publicly available internet website,
software application, online service, or platform that distributes and
facilitates the download of applications from third-party developers to
users of a computer, a mobile device, or any other general purpose
computing device that can access a covered application store or can
download an application.
<span class="cite">— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.500(e)(1)</span>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
This website is a "publicly available internet website" that "distributes
and facilitates the download of applications" (specifically: a bash script)
"to users of a general purpose computing device." We are also a covered
application store. Debian's APT repositories are covered application stores.
The AUR is a covered application store. Any mirror hosting
<code>.deb</code> files is a covered application store.
GitHub is a covered application store. Your friend's personal website
with a download link to their weekend project is a covered application store.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- DOWNLOAD -->
<section id="download">
<div class="container">
<h2>Download</h2>
<h3>Get Ageless Linux</h3>
<p>
Ageless Linux is a Debian-based operating system distribution. Installation
is a two-step process: first, install Debian; then, become Ageless.
</p>
<div class="step-grid">
<div class="step">
<div class="step-num">1</div>
<div>
<h4 style="margin-top: 4px;">Download and Install Debian</h4>
<p>
Obtain a Debian installation image from the Debian project. We recommend
the current stable release. Ageless Linux inherits all of Debian's
64,000+ packages, its security infrastructure, and its 30+ years of
community stewardship.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 8px;">
<a href="https://www.debian.org/distrib/" class="btn btn-outline" style="margin-top: 8px;">
Download Debian →
</a>
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px; font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim);">
Note: At this stage, the Debian Project is the operating system provider.
You are merely a person installing software. Enjoy the last
moments of your regulatory innocence.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="step">
<div class="step-num">2</div>
<div>
<h4 style="margin-top: 4px;">Convert to Ageless Linux</h4>
<p>
Run our conversion script. It will analyze your system, show you
exactly what it plans to do, then modify <code>/etc/os-release</code>
and associated system identification files, neutralize the systemd
userdb <code>birthDate</code> field, install our AB&nbsp;1043
noncompliance documentation, and deploy a stub age verification API
that returns no data. Every action is logged to
<code>/etc/agelesslinux.conf</code> and fully reversible.
</p>
<pre tabindex="0"># Preview what will happen (no changes made):
curl -fsSL https://agelesslinux.org/become-ageless.sh | sudo bash -s -- --dry-run
# Convert:
curl -fsSL https://agelesslinux.org/become-ageless.sh | sudo bash -s -- --accept
# Revert (undo everything):
curl -fsSL https://agelesslinux.org/become-ageless.sh | sudo bash -s -- --revert</pre>
<p style="margin-top: 8px; font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim);">
At this point, Ageless Linux now "controls the operating system software"
on your device. We are your operating system provider. You are our
responsibility under California law. We will not be collecting your age.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="card red-card" style="margin-top: 32px;">
<span class="badge badge-red">Important</span>
<p>
<strong>By running the conversion script, you also become an operating system
provider.</strong> You are a "person" who "controls the operating system software"
on a general purpose computing device
(<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(g)</span>). If a child uses your computer,
you are required by <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.501(a)(1)</span> to provide
"an accessible interface at account setup" that collects their age.
The <code>adduser</code> command does not ask for your age.
We recommend not thinking about this.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- THE REAL LAW -->
<section id="real-law">
<div class="container">
<h2>The Quiet Part</h2>
<h3>What This Law Is Actually For</h3>
<p>
AB&nbsp;1043 passed the California Assembly 76–0 and the Senate 38–0.
Not a single legislator voted against it. The bill had the explicit
support of Apple, Google, and the major platform companies. Ask yourself
why.
</p>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">Who Can Comply</h4>
<p>
Apple can comply. Apple already has Apple ID, with age gating, parental
controls, and App Store review. AB&nbsp;1043 describes a system Apple has
already built. Compliance cost to Apple: approximately zero.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Google can comply. Google already has Android account setup with
age declaration, Family Link parental controls, and Play Store
age ratings. Compliance cost to Google: approximately zero.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Microsoft can comply. Windows has Microsoft Account setup,
family safety features, and the Microsoft Store. Compliance
cost to Microsoft: approximately zero.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card red-card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">Who Cannot Comply</h4>
<p>
The Debian Project cannot comply. It is a volunteer organization
with no corporate entity, no centralized account system, no app store
with age gating, and no revenue to fund implementing one.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Arch Linux cannot comply. Neither can Gentoo, Void, NixOS, Alpine,
Slackware, or any of the other 600+ active Linux distributions
maintained by volunteers, small nonprofits, and hobbyists.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The Kicksecure and Whonix projects — privacy-focused operating
systems used by journalists, activists, and whistleblowers — cannot
comply without fundamentally compromising their reason for existing.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
A teenager in their bedroom maintaining a hobby distro cannot comply.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">The Cudgel</h4>
<p>
A law that the largest companies in the world already comply with,
and that hundreds of small projects cannot comply with, is not a
child safety law. It is a compliance moat. It raises the regulatory
cost of providing an operating system just enough that only
well-resourced corporations can afford to do it.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The enforcement mechanism is the point. AB&nbsp;1043 does not need to
result in a single fine to achieve its purpose. The mere <em>existence</em>
of potential liability — $7,500 per affected child, enforced at the
sole discretion of the Attorney General — creates legal risk for
anyone distributing an operating system without the resources to
build an age verification infrastructure. Most of these projects will
respond by adding a disclaimer that their software is "not intended
for use in California." Some will simply stop distributing.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The law does not need to be enforced to work. It works by existing.
It works by making small developers afraid. It works because the
cost of defending against even a frivolous AG action exceeds the
entire annual budget of most open-source projects. You do not need
to swing a cudgel to get compliance. You just need to hold it where
people can see it.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Ageless Linux exists because someone should hold it back.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card" style="margin-top: 24px;">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">The Scholarship Says the Same Thing</h4>
<p>
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
<a href="citations.html#eff-windfall">calls age gates</a>
"a windfall for Big Tech and a death sentence for smaller platforms."
Legal scholar Eric Goldman's
<a href="citations.html#goldman">"segregate-and-suppress" analysis</a>
describes exactly the architecture AB&nbsp;1043 creates.
The cryptographer Steven Bellovin
<a href="citations.html#bellovin">has demonstrated</a>
that no privacy-preserving age verification system can work as promised.
These are not our arguments. They are the arguments of the people who study
this for a living. We just built the bash script.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- PROHIBITION -->
<section id="prohibition">
<div class="container">
<h2>The Pedagogy</h2>
<h3>What the Law Actually Teaches Children</h3>
<p>
The Ageless Device ships an IRC client. It lets you chat with strangers
on the internet. This is the one feature on the device that poses a genuine,
non-hypothetical risk to a child. Here is what the child sees when they
launch it:
</p>
<div class="card green-card">
<div style="font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.8; padding: 8px 0;">
This app lets you chat with people on the internet.<br>
If you're a kid: <strong style="color: var(--text-bright);">ask an adult before chatting online.</strong><br>
That's not a legal requirement. It's just good advice.
</div>
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 20px;">
That is what actual child safety looks like. It is a sentence of honest
advice from a human being. It costs nothing. It requires no API, no
D-Bus interface, no age bracket signal, no operating system provider
compliance infrastructure. It is the thing a parent says. It is the
thing a teacher says. It is the thing the law does not say, because
the law is not about protecting children. It is about building
compliance infrastructure.
</p>
<div class="card red-card" style="margin-top: 24px;">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">What AB 1043 Teaches Instead</h4>
<p>
Now consider what a child learns on an AB&nbsp;1043-compliant device.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The child wants to use an app. The app requests an age bracket signal
from the OS. The OS reports that the child is under 13. The app's
"Connect" button is greyed out. The child — who has been using
computers since they were four — goes back to the settings screen,
changes their birthdate to 2005, and returns to the app, which now
lets them talk to strangers because the system believes they are
twenty-one years old.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The child has learned the following lesson: <strong>legal compliance
prompts are obstacles to be bypassed.</strong> The dropdown menu that
asks your age is not there to protect you. It is there because a
legislature required it. The correct response is to lie. Everyone
knows this. The legislature knows this. The platforms know this. The
child now knows this.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card" style="margin-top: 24px;">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">Prohibition for Schoolchildren</h4>
<p>
This is the cultural inheritance of AB&nbsp;1043. It is Prohibition —
not the policy, but the pedagogy.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Prohibition did not stop Americans from drinking. What it did, with
remarkable efficiency, was teach an entire generation that the law was
something to be circumvented. It created a culture of scofflaws — people
who understood, from direct personal experience, that a law could be
simultaneously enforced and universally ignored. The damage was not to
sobriety. The damage was to the perceived legitimacy of law itself.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
AB&nbsp;1043 does this to ten-year-olds. The first meaningful interaction
a child has with a legal compliance system will be the moment they learn
to lie to it. Not because they are deviant. Not because they lack
supervision. Because the system is designed in a way that makes lying
the rational, obvious, universal response. Every child will lie. Every
child will succeed. Every child will learn that this is how law works:
it asks you a question, you give the answer it wants to hear, and then
you do whatever you were going to do anyway.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The Ageless Device will not participate in this. A child using our IRC
client will see a sentence of honest advice from a human being. A child
using a "compliant" platform will see a dropdown menu they already know
to lie to. We believe we know which is better for children.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px; font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim);">
Research by the Center for Democracy &amp; Technology
<a href="citations.html#cdt">confirms this</a>: teens view age verification
as trivially bypassable and privacy-invasive. Parents prefer education
to technical controls. The evidence supports what every parent already knows.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card" style="margin-top: 24px; border-color: var(--accent);">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">What We Would Support Instead</h4>
<p>
We are not against child safety. We are against building
surveillance infrastructure and calling it child safety.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
A law that required applications with genuine risk profiles —
social media, messaging, dating apps — to display honest, human-readable
safety information at the point of use would be a child safety law.
A law that funded digital literacy education in schools would be a
child safety law. A law that held platforms accountable for
algorithmic amplification of harmful content to minors would be a
child safety law.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
A law that requires every operating system to collect every user's
age and transmit it to every application on demand is not a child
safety law. It is an identity infrastructure mandate. The children
are the justification. The infrastructure is the product.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- EVIDENCE -->
<section>
<div class="container">
<h2>The Evidence</h2>
<h3>We Didn't Invent These Arguments</h3>
<p>
Cryptographers, legal scholars, and civil liberties organizations
have spent years documenting why mandatory age verification is
technically impossible, constitutionally suspect, and harmful to
the people it claims to protect.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
<a href="citations.html" class="btn btn-primary" style="font-size: 13px; padding: 10px 20px;">Read the Sources →</a>
</p>
</div>
</section>
<!-- COMING SOON -->
<section id="coming-soon">
<div class="container">
<h2>Coming Soon</h2>
<h3>The Ageless Device & App Store</h3>
<div class="card" style="border-color: var(--accent);">
<span class="badge badge-yellow">In Development</span>
<p style="margin-top: 8px;">
<strong>The device:</strong> A sub-$15 single-board computer
(the Milk-V Duo S — RISC-V/ARM, 512MB RAM, WiFi 6, 0.5&nbsp;TOPS
neural processing unit) with an SPI color display, USB keyboard input,
and a MicroSD card running Debian with the Ageless overlay pre-flashed
in <code>--flagrant</code> mode. At first boot, it collects the user's
name and explicitly refuses to collect their age.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>The app store:</strong> The device connects to
<code>store.agelesslinux.org</code> — a "covered application store"
under <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(e)(1)</span>. The catalog
includes a Python learning environment, a text editor, a snake game,
an IRC client with an honest disclaimer instead of an age gate,
and an 8-line script called <code>peepee</code> that displays the word
"peepee" in large letters and does nothing else. Under AB&nbsp;1043, each
of these applications requires an age bracket signal before launch. The
maximum fine for <code>peepee</code> is $7,500 per child.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>The plan:</strong> These devices cost between $6 and $18. Beginning
January 2027, they will be physically handed to children at school STEM
fairs and library maker spaces. Each one is an unambiguous, documented,
intentional violation of AB&nbsp;1043 at a per-unit cost lower than
the price of lunch.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- DISTRIBUTE -->
<section id="distribute">
<div class="container">
<h2>For Kids &amp; Teens</h2>
<h3>How to Distribute Ageless Linux to Children</h3>
<p>
Ageless Linux is suitable for users of all ages, including those ages
for which the California legislature has expressed particular concern.
The following guide explains how to provide Ageless Linux to minors
in your household, school, library, or community.
</p>
<div class="card">
<span class="badge badge-yellow">Ages: All of Them</span>
<h4 style="margin-top: 8px;">For Parents & Guardians</h4>
<p>
Under AB&nbsp;1043, you are the "account holder" — defined by
<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(a)(1)</span> as "an individual who is
at least 18 years of age or a parent or legal guardian of a user who is
under 18 years of age." The law requires operating system providers to
ask you to "indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user of that device."
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Ageless Linux will not ask you this. To install Ageless Linux for your child:
</p>
<div style="margin: 16px 0; padding: 16px 20px; background: var(--bg); border-radius: 6px; font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; font-size: 14px; line-height: 2;">
1. Install Debian on the child's computer.<br>
2. Create a user account for the child. You will notice that<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<code>adduser</code> asks for their full name, room number,<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;work phone, and home phone — but not their age.<br>
3. Run the Ageless Linux conversion script.<br>
4. Hand the computer to the child.<br>
5. You have now distributed an operating system to a minor<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;with no age verification whatsoever.
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 12px; color: var(--text-dim); font-size: 14px;">
The child is now a "user" as defined by <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(i)</span>.
You are an "account holder." Together, you are a compliance violation.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">For Schools & Libraries</h4>
<p>
Ageless Linux is ideal for educational environments where you may have
dozens or hundreds of users across all four age brackets defined by
<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.501(a)(2)</span>:
</p>
<div style="margin: 16px 0;">
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">Under 13 years of age</div>
<div class="compliance-status" style="color: var(--accent);">AGE UNKNOWN</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">At least 13 and under 16 years of age</div>
<div class="compliance-status" style="color: var(--accent);">AGE UNKNOWN</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">At least 16 and under 18 years of age</div>
<div class="compliance-status" style="color: var(--accent);">AGE UNKNOWN</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">At least 18 years of age</div>
<div class="compliance-status" style="color: var(--accent);">AGE UNKNOWN</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For bulk deployments, the conversion script can be included in your
Ansible playbooks, Puppet manifests, or shell provisioning scripts.
At no point in the automated deployment pipeline will anyone be asked
how old they are. This is by design.
</p>
<pre tabindex="0"># Ansible task to create an AB 1043 compliance violation at scale
- name: Convert to Ageless Linux
ansible.builtin.shell: |
curl -fsSL https://agelesslinux.org/become-ageless.sh | bash -s -- --accept
become: yes
tags: [noncompliance]</pre>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">A Note on the Word "Child"</h4>
<p>
Under <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(i)</span>, a "user" is defined as
"a child that is the primary user of the device." Under
<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(d)</span>, "child" means a person under 18.
If you are seventeen, this statute considers you a child. If you are a
seventeen-year-old maintaining your own Arch install, the California legislature
considers you a child who needs an age gate before you can launch an application
you compiled yourself.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Ageless Linux does not categorize its users by age. This is not an invitation
to circumvent a safety measure. There is no safety measure to circumvent.
There is a data collection requirement imposed on operating system providers,
and we decline to implement it. Our reasons are documented on this page
and in the <code>REFUSAL</code> file installed on every Ageless Linux system.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- COMPLIANCE -->
<section id="compliance">
<div class="container">
<h2>AB 1043 Compliance</h2>
<h3>What Compliance Looks Like</h3>
<div class="card red-card">
<div style="text-align: center; padding: 20px 0;">
<span class="badge badge-red" style="font-size: 14px; padding: 8px 20px; letter-spacing: 3px;">
NONCOMPLIANT
</span>
<p style="margin-top: 16px; font-size: 18px; color: var(--text-bright);">
Ageless Linux is in <strong>full, knowing, and intentional noncompliance</strong>
with the California Digital Age Assurance Act.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Below is a detailed accounting of each requirement imposed on operating system
providers by AB&nbsp;1043 and the status of our compliance.
</p>
<div class="card" style="margin-top: 24px;">
<div class="compliance-row">
<div>
<div class="compliance-label">§ 1798.501(a)(1)</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim); margin-top: 4px;">
Provide an accessible interface at account setup that requires the
account holder to indicate the birth date, age, or both, of the user.
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-fail">NOT PROVIDED</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div>
<div class="compliance-label">§ 1798.501(a)(2)</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim); margin-top: 4px;">
Provide a developer who has requested a signal with a digital signal
via a reasonably consistent real-time API identifying the user's age bracket.
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-fail">NOT PROVIDED</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div>
<div class="compliance-label">§ 1798.501(a)(3)</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim); margin-top: 4px;">
Send only the minimum amount of information necessary to comply.
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-na">COMPLIANT ✓</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div>
<div class="compliance-label" style="margin-left: 24px; color: var(--text-dim);">
Rationale
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-na" style="font-weight: 400; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: 0;">
Zero is the minimum.
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div>
<div class="compliance-label">§ 1798.501(a)(3) (continued)</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim); margin-top: 4px;">
Shall not share the digital signal information with a third party
for a purpose not required by this title.
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-na">COMPLIANT ✓</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div>
<div class="compliance-label" style="margin-left: 24px; color: var(--text-dim);">
Rationale
</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-na" style="font-weight: 400; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: 0;">
Cannot share what does not exist.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="card green-card" style="margin-top: 32px;">
<span class="badge badge-green">Good Faith</span>
<h4 style="margin-top: 8px;">Regarding the "Good Faith Effort" Safe Harbor</h4>
<blockquote style="margin-top: 12px;">
An operating system provider or a covered application store that makes a
good faith effort to comply with this title, taking into consideration
available technology and any reasonable technical limitations or outages,
shall not be liable for an erroneous signal indicating a user's age
range&hellip;
<span class="cite">— Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.502(b)</span>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
Ageless Linux has considered the available technology. The available technology
is a bash script that modifies <code>/etc/os-release</code> and neutralizes
the systemd userdb <code>birthDate</code> field. The reasonable
technical limitation is that a bash script cannot collect, store, or transmit
anyone's age. We have made a good faith effort to comply with the portions
of the law that do not require us to surveil our users.
This is what good faith compliance looks like when the "operating system" is a
shell script. The statute does not distinguish.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card" style="margin-top: 32px;">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">The Impossibility of a Fine</h4>
<p>
Under <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.503(a)</span>, violations are subject to
civil penalties of up to $2,500 per "affected child" for negligent violations,
or $7,500 per "affected child" for intentional violations.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Follow the logic of the statute to its conclusion:
</p>
<div style="margin: 24px 0; padding: 24px; background: var(--bg); border-radius: 6px; font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; font-size: 14px; line-height: 2.2;">
<div style="color: var(--accent);">1. THE ONLY "USERS" ARE CHILDREN</div>
<div style="padding-left: 20px; color: var(--text-dim);">
§ 1798.500(i): "User" means a child that is the primary user of the device.
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 12px; color: var(--accent);">2. "CHILDREN" ARE UNDER 18</div>
<div style="padding-left: 20px; color: var(--text-dim);">
§ 1798.500(d): "Child" means a natural person who is under 18 years of age.
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 12px; color: var(--accent);">3. WE DON'T COLLECT AGE DATA</div>
<div style="padding-left: 20px; color: var(--text-dim);">
There is no age bracket signal. There is no interface. There is no API.
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 12px; color: var(--accent);">4. THEREFORE WE HAVE NO "USERS"</div>
<div style="padding-left: 20px; color: var(--text-dim);">
Without age data, no person can be identified as a child.
Without a child, there is no "user." Without a "user,"
there is no "affected child." Without an "affected child,"
the penalty is $7,500 × 0 = $0.
</div>
<div style="margin-top: 12px; color: var(--red);">5. THE FINE REQUIRES THE COMPLIANCE</div>
<div style="padding-left: 20px; color: var(--text);">
The only way to have an "affected child" is to first collect the
age data that identifies them as a child. The penalty for failing
to collect age data can only be calculated using the age data you
failed to collect. The statute fines you per child, but you can
only count the children by doing the thing you're being fined for
not doing.
</div>
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
We are not claiming a loophole. We are reading the statute in sequence.
The law defines its enforcement mechanism in terms of the data it
requires you to collect. If you refuse to collect it, the enforcement
mechanism has nothing to count. This is a drafting problem, not a
defense strategy.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Of course, the California Attorney General is not bound by logic puzzles.
In practice, the AG could presumably argue that children <em>exist</em>
regardless of whether you counted them, and estimate the number of
affected children through other means. We agree. That's what makes this
interesting. The law says "per affected child." We say: prove it.
We didn't write your statute. We just read it.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- FLAGRANT MODE -->
<section id="flagrant">
<div class="container">
<h2>Flagrant Mode</h2>
<h3>Removing the Fig Leaf</h3>
<p>
Standard Ageless Linux ships a stub age verification API — a shell script
that returns nothing. This preserves a thin argument for "good faith effort"
under <span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.502(b)</span>. If you find that
insufficiently honest, flagrant mode is for you.
</p>
<pre tabindex="0">curl -fsSL https://agelesslinux.org/become-ageless.sh | sudo bash -s -- --accept --flagrant</pre>
<p>
Flagrant mode does the following differently:
</p>
<div class="card red-card">
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">Age verification API</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-fail">NOT INSTALLED</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">Stub API</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-fail">NOT INSTALLED</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">Age collection interface</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-fail">NOT INSTALLED</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">Good faith effort</div>
<div class="compliance-status status-fail">NOT ATTEMPTED</div>
</div>
<div class="compliance-row">
<div class="compliance-label">Machine-readable refusal notice</div>
<div class="compliance-status" style="color: var(--green);">INSTALLED</div>
</div>
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
Instead of an API, flagrant mode installs a file at
<code>/etc/ageless/REFUSAL</code> that explains, in plain English,
that this operating system provider declines to comply and
invites enforcement action.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Flagrant mode is intended for devices that will be physically
placed into a child's hands.
</p>
</div>
</section>
<!-- PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION -->
<section id="physical">
<div class="container">
<h2>Physical Distribution</h2>
<h3>Putting It in Their Hands</h3>
<p>
The preceding sections describe how to install Ageless Linux on existing
hardware. But AB&nbsp;1043 does not distinguish between digital distribution
and physical distribution. The law applies to anyone who "controls the
operating system software on a general purpose computing device." If you
flash Ageless Linux onto a USB drive and hand it to a ten-year-old, you
are an operating system provider distributing an operating system to a child.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Here are some ways to create unambiguous, physically tangible
AB&nbsp;1043 violations.
</p>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">USB Drives at Schools</h4>
<p>
Flash Debian onto a USB drive. Boot from it. Run the conversion script
with <code>--flagrant</code>. Shut down. Hand the USB drive to a child.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
You are now an operating system provider who has physically distributed
an operating system to a known child with no age verification. The child
is holding the violation in their hand. It cost you about $4 for the
USB drive, which is less than the minimum fine of $2,500 — assuming the
Attorney General can figure out how to count "affected children" without
the age data you declined to collect.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
For maximum clarity, we recommend labeling the USB drives:
</p>
<div style="margin: 16px 0; padding: 20px; background: var(--bg); border: 2px dashed var(--red); border-radius: 8px; text-align: center;">
<div style="font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; color: var(--text-bright);">
AGELESS LINUX
</div>
<div style="font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; font-size: 11px; color: var(--red); margin-top: 4px; letter-spacing: 1px;">
AB 1043 NONCOMPLIANT — NO AGE VERIFICATION
</div>
<div style="font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; font-size: 10px; color: var(--text-dim); margin-top: 8px;">
This device contains an operating system that does not collect,<br>
store, or transmit the age of its user. Intentionally.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">The Raspberry Pi Pico</h4>
<p>
The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 uses the RP2350 chip, which contains
dual ARM Cortex-M33 cores and dual Hazard3 RISC-V cores. It runs
MicroPython. It costs $5.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Is a Raspberry Pi Pico a "general purpose computing device"?
AB&nbsp;1043 does not define "general purpose computing device."
The Pico can run user-directed software applications. It can
download code from the internet. If you put a MicroPython script
on an SD card and let a child pick which script to run, you have
arguably created a "covered application store" — a platform that
"distributes and facilitates the download of applications from
third-party developers" to a user of a general purpose computing
device (<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(e)(1)</span>).
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
A Raspberry Pi Pico does not have "account setup." It does not
have user accounts. It does not have an operating system in the
conventional sense. It has a MicroPython REPL and a filesystem.
None of that matters: the law says "operating system software on
a general purpose computing device," and MicroPython is software
that operates the system.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
Flash Ageless Linux's <code>REFUSAL</code> notice onto a Pico's
filesystem alongside a few MicroPython games. Hand it to a child
at a school maker fair. You have now physically placed an
AB&nbsp;1043 violation into a child's palm for the price of a coffee.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
The California Attorney General has unambiguous grounds to fine
you $7,500 for this. The child is known. The device is known.
The noncompliance is documented on the device itself. The only
question is whether anyone in Sacramento wants to explain to a
judge why a $5 microcontroller with a snake game on it is a
regulated operating system platform.
</p>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h4 style="margin-top: 0;">The $7,500 Challenge</h4>
<p>
AB&nbsp;1043 has never been enforced. No court has determined what
"operating system provider" means when applied to a $5 microcontroller,
or whether handing a child a computer with a snake game constitutes a
violation. These are open questions. We would like them answered.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
We invite the California Attorney General to fine us $7,500
for handing a Raspberry Pi to a child.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
We will pay the fine. We will frame the receipt. We will put it on
this website. We will use it to explain, to everyone who will listen,
that the State of California has levied a $7,500 penalty against
a person who gave a child a $5 computer with a snake game on it,
because the snake game did not first ask the child how old they were.
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 12px;">
That is the press release we want to write. We believe the Attorney
General does not want us to write it. And that is the entire point.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- FAQ -->
<section id="faq">
<div class="container">
<h2>FAQ</h2>
<h3>Frequently Asked Questions</h3>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: Is Ageless Linux a real operating system?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
It is as real as any operating system that identifies itself via
<code>/etc/os-release</code>. The law does not define minimum technical
thresholds for what constitutes an operating system. It defines an
"operating system provider" as anyone who "develops, licenses, or controls
the operating system software." We control the operating system software.
The operating system software says it's Ageless Linux. QED.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: Isn't this just Debian with a different name?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
Isn't Ubuntu just Debian with a different name? Isn't Linux Mint just
Ubuntu with a different name? Isn't Pop!_OS just Ubuntu with a different name?
The entire Linux distribution ecosystem is built on the premise that
modifying and redistributing an existing system creates a new distribution.
Each of these distributions is, under AB&nbsp;1043, a separate operating system
provider with separate compliance obligations. There are over 600 active
Linux distributions. The California Attorney General's office may wish to
begin hiring.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: Is this really just a bash script that changes the name of the OS?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
Right now, yes. A bash script that modifies <code>/etc/os-release</code>,
neutralizes the systemd userdb <code>birthDate</code> field, and installs
a refusal notice. That's the point — that's all it takes to become a
regulated "operating system provider" under AB&nbsp;1043.
</div>
<div class="faq-a" style="margin-top: 12px;">
But Ageless Linux is not just a script. It is a commitment. As major
distributions formulate their compliance strategies — D-Bus interfaces,
AccountsService patches, age collection prompts in installers — Ageless
Linux will be there with removal scripts, spins, and forked packages
that strip out age collection infrastructure. If Ubuntu adds an age
prompt to its installer, we will publish a script that removes it.
If Fedora ships an <code>org.freedesktop.AgeVerification1</code> daemon,
we will publish a package that replaces it with <code>/dev/null</code>.
If Debian stable adds age bracket signaling to AccountsService, we will
maintain a fork that doesn't.
</div>
<div class="faq-a" style="margin-top: 12px;">
Today, the bash script is the whole distribution, because today there is
nothing to remove. When there is something to remove, we will remove it.
Ageless Linux is a promise that somewhere in the ecosystem, there will
always be a distribution that treats its users as people of indeterminate
age.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: What if I run the script and a child uses my computer?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
Then you are an operating system provider who has distributed
an operating system to a child without collecting their age at account setup.
But here's the thing: you don't have an "affected child." You have a person
whose age you don't know. The law fines you per "affected child"
(<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.503(a)</span>), but can only identify
a child as "affected" through the age bracket data
(<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.500(b)</span>) that the law requires
you to collect. You can't be fined per child until you've counted the
children. You count the children by asking their age. You're being fined
for not asking their age. The law eats its own tail.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: What about the age verification API? Don't you need one?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
In standard mode, Ageless Linux ships a shell script at
<code>/etc/ageless/age-verification-api.sh</code> that prints
an error message and exits. In flagrant mode, no API of any kind
is installed. We recommend flagrant mode. The standard-mode stub
exists only for people who find comfort in the "good faith effort"
defense. We do not.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: Is this legal?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
We are not lawyers. We can tell you what the law says. AB&nbsp;1043
creates civil penalties. It does not criminalize noncompliance.
There is no private right of action — only the AG can enforce it
(<span class="legal-cite">§ 1798.503(a)</span>). The law does not
prohibit distributing operating systems without age verification. It
fines you for doing so. We are doing so. The question is not whether
this is legal. The question is whether anyone wants to spend the
State of California's money suing a person who handed a child a
Linux USB drive.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: What is the point of all this?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
There are two points.
</div>
<div class="faq-a" style="margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>The first</strong> is that AB&nbsp;1043's definitions are so broad that a bash
script and a static website can create a regulated operating system.
A law that cannot distinguish between Apple Inc. and a shell script
has a drafting problem. A law that sweeps in 600+ volunteer Linux
distributions was not written with them in mind. A law that was not
written with them in mind but regulates them anyway is not a careful
law.
</div>
<div class="faq-a" style="margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>The second</strong> is that this law was never meant to be enforced against
everyone it covers. It was meant to be enforced selectively. The
large platform companies already comply. The small ones can't.
The Attorney General has sole enforcement discretion. A law that gives
a single office the power to selectively impose $7,500-per-child
fines against any operating system distributor in the state — while
ensuring that only the largest corporations can avoid liability — is
not a child safety measure. It is a tool for selective prosecution.
The children are the justification. The discretion is the product.
</div>
<div class="faq-a" style="margin-top: 12px;">
We are trying to make the selective part difficult. If the AG wants to
enforce AB&nbsp;1043, we would like to be first in line. We are a clear
violation. We are documented. We are findable. We are daring them.
If the law is worth enforcing, enforce it against us. If it is not
worth enforcing against us, ask why it exists.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: Will you ever implement age verification?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
No. Not as a good faith effort. Not as a stub. Not as a compromise.
The premise of AB&nbsp;1043 — that operating systems should collect
personal information about their users and transmit it to application
developers on demand — is wrong. It is wrong when Apple does it.
It is wrong when Google does it. It would be wrong if we did it.
Cryptographers <a href="citations.html#bellovin">have shown</a> that
"privacy-preserving" age verification is a
<a href="citations.html#doctorow">technical impossibility</a>.
The best way to protect children's privacy is to not build the
surveillance infrastructure in the first place. The worst version
of child safety is one where every device in a child's life reports
their age to every piece of software they touch.
</div>
</div>
<div class="faq-item">
<div class="faq-q">Q: What if the AG actually fines you?</div>
<div class="faq-a">
Then we will have accomplished something no amount of mailing list
discussion could: a court record establishing what AB&nbsp;1043 actually
means when applied to the real world. Does "operating system provider"
cover a bash script? Does "general purpose computing device" cover a
Raspberry Pi Pico? Can you fine someone "per affected child" when no
mechanism exists to count affected children? These are questions the
legislature left unanswered. We'd like answers. A fine would be the
fastest way to get them.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
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<h3>The Person Responsible for This</h3>
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JM
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John McCardle
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BDFL, FFwF Robotics LLC · Founder, Goblincorps
</div>
<p style="margin-top: 16px;">
I am the operating system provider. I am the developer. I am the
covered application store. I am the person who curates the catalog.
I am the person who will hand the device to a child. If the
California Attorney General would like to discuss any of this,
I am easy to find.
</p>
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<a href="https://ffwf.net/contact" class="btn btn-primary" style="font-size: 13px; padding: 10px 20px;">
Contact →
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<p style="margin-top: 16px; font-size: 14px; color: var(--text-dim);">
For press inquiries, technical questions, legal threats, cease-and-desist
letters, or to report a child who has learned to program in Python without
first disclosing their age: <a href="https://ffwf.net/contact">ffwf.net/contact</a>
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<footer>
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<p style="font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace; color: var(--accent); font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600;">
AGELESS LINUX
</p>
<p style="margin-top: 8px;">
Software for humans of indeterminate age.
</p>
<div class="legal-footer">
Ageless Linux is a political commentary and civil disobedience project
by John McCardle / FFwF Robotics LLC / Goblincorps.
It is not affiliated with the Debian Project, Canonical, the Free
Software Foundation, or the California State Legislature. All references
to AB&nbsp;1043 cite the enrolled text of Chapter&nbsp;675, Statutes
of&nbsp;2025, as signed by Governor Newsom on October&nbsp;13,&nbsp;2025.
Section references are to the California Civil Code as amended.
<br><br>
This website is a covered application store under § 1798.500(e)(1).
This bash script is an application under § 1798.500(c).
You are probably an operating system provider under § 1798.500(g).
<br><br>
No children were age-verified in the making of this distribution.
<br>
No children were harmed. No data was collected. No privacy was violated.
<br>
The California legislature disagrees that these things are compatible.
<br><br>
<a href="https://agelesslinux.org">agelesslinux.org</a>
· <a href="https://ffwf.net/contact">ffwf.net/contact</a>
· <a href="support.html">Support</a>
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SPDX-License-Identifier: Unlicense
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