MidnightBSD Bans Users in Brazil and California, Warns More Regions Could Follow

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨throws_lemy@lemmy.nz⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://itsfoss.com/news/midnightbsd-age-verification/

MidnightBSD, a FreeBSD-based desktop operating system, has quietly updated its README to reflect a new geographic restriction. The project has added a clause that bars residents of any country, state, or territory with OS-level age verification mandates from using MidnightBSD

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xxce2AAb@feddit.dk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
That may be the best thing to deal with the potential legal liabilities introduced by this unmitigated abject idiocy.

Good thing everybody can still torrent whatever they want from where ever they want. Or use IPFS. Or IRC DCC. Or Usenet. Or just a VPN.

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Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Speaking as a brazilian resident, the law will not be enforced. No such laws are ever enforced here. Everybody openly pirates everything, people sell retro gaming systems preloaded with thousands of ROMs openly online and in physical shops, and the government doesn’t even have 1% of the surveillance infrastructure needed to make enforcement attractive. The law is just electoral posturing and lip service to please evangelical idiots… but I repeat myself.

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- atkdef@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Remember what the maintainer of The Pirate Bay once said?
  
  Never be too certain something won’t be enforced, as the power of capitalists are far worse than the public can imagine.
  
  Maybe I’m too pessimistic, but this may just be the start. Big corps may find their way to control every aspect, step by step.
  
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  - Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    You’re right to give that warning, but Brazil isn’t a surveillance state like China or the USA. Our demons are different.
    
    Of course, that could change in the future so a law like this shouldn’t stand regardless.
    
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- lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  This is different from pirating. The government will be going after the developers like they did Kim Dotcom.
  
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  - Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Not the Brazilian government, is what I’m saying. At most they’ll tell ISPs to block a few websites, and they won’t comply without a judicial order. Our Supreme Court, STF, is actually sane unlike our legislators, so no such order will be given.
    
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- BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The amount of bootleg dvd shops I saw in Paraíba and the amount of friends that have uTorrent installed on their phones is more proof of that. I’m all for it, I wish bandwidth was better all around Brazil to make it easier for everyone to just download whatever you guys want, especially if it’s from an American company
  
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- wrinkle2409@lemmy.cafe ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Dedo no cú e gritaria
  
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  - RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Is it strange that i understood this even though i’m Italian?
    
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- caschb@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The problem is, of course, if those evangelical idiots end up in power again they now have the power to wield it. (or to at least try)
  
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- ruan@lemmy.eco.br ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Speaking as a brazilian resident, the law will not be enforced. No such laws are ever enforced here. Everybody openly pirates everything, people sell retro gaming systems preloaded with thousands of ROMs openly online and in physical shops, and the government doesn’t even have 1% of the surveillance infrastructure needed to make enforcement attractive. The law is just electoral posturing and lip service to please evangelical idiots… but I repeat myself.
  
  The law will most likely be enforced where it matters: smartphones from companies that “manufacture” them in Brazil (which is like 90% of market share of smartphones in Brazil).
  
  So both Android and iOS will most likely start requiring some official ID to be provided or facial recognition to setup the device and/or to access both Play Store or App Store, which yeah, seems a bit concerning.
  
  Also, if you read the law: www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/…/L15211.htm, or in this PDF in English: www.gov.br/mdh/pt-br/…/eca-digital-ing-v2.pdf?ref…, you can see the only thing an operating system (that does not come with under 18 age improper content, like pornographic content, in it’s installation media) really needs to implement is a self-declaration of being “age appropriate” to use the system, otherwise deny the installation of the OS.
  
  Art. 12. Os provedores de lojas de aplicações de internet e de sistemas operacionais de terminais deverão:
  
  I – tomar medidas proporcionais, auditáveis e tecnicamente seguras para aferir a idade ou a faixa etária dos usuários, observados os princípios previstos no art. 6º da Lei nº 13.709, de 14 de agosto de 2018 (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais);
  
  II – permitir que os pais ou responsáveis legais configurem mecanismos de supervisão parental voluntários e supervisionem, de forma ativa, o acesso de crianças e de adolescentes a aplicativos e conteúdos; e
  
  III – possibilitar, por meio de Interface de Programação de Aplicações (Application Programming Interface – API) segura e pautada pela proteção da privacidade desde o padrão, o fornecimento de sinal de idade aos provedores de aplicações de internet, exclusivamente para o cumprimento das finalidades desta Lei e com salvaguardas técnicas adequadas.
  
  § 1º O fornecimento de sinal de idade por meio de APIs deverá observar o princípio da minimização de dados, vedado qualquer compartilhamento contínuo, automatizado e irrestrito de dados pessoais de crianças e de adolescentes.
  
  § 2º A autorização para download de aplicativos por crianças e adolescentes dependerá de consentimento livre e informado dos pais ou responsáveis legais, prestado nos termos da legislação vigente, respeitada a autonomia progressiva, vedada a presunção de autorização na hipótese de ausência de manifestação dos pais ou responsáveis legais.
  
  § 3º Ato do Poder Executivo regulamentará os requisitos mínimos de transparência, de segurança e de interoperabilidade para os mecanismos de aferição de idade e de supervisão parental adotados pelos sistemas operacionais e pelas lojas de aplicativos.
  
  The part where the operating system must implement age verification is here:
  
  Art. 12. Os provedores de lojas de aplicações de internet e de sistemas operacionais de terminais deverão:
  
  I – tomar medidas proporcionais, auditáveis e tecnicamente seguras para aferir a idade ou a faixa etária dos usuários, observados os princípios previstos no art. 6º da Lei nº 13.709, de 14 de agosto de 2018 (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais);
  
  Which has been officially translated in the PDF to :
  
  Art. 12. Providers of internet application stores and terminal operating systems shall:
  
  I – take proportional, auditable, and technically secure measures to ascertain the age or age range of users, subject to the principles provided for in Art. 6 of Law No. 13,709, of August 14, 2018 (Brazilian Data Protection Law);
  
  The II there, that states:
  
  II – allow parents or legal guardians to configure voluntary parental supervision mechanisms and to actively supervise the access of children and adolescents to applications and content; and
  
  Is totally optional, there’s no way any judge in Brazil could enforce that as mandatory to be implemented in all OSes and punish any OS that denies installation for under 18 age citizens of Brazil and does not provide such parental supervision mechanisms.
  
  Now, for any digital media or computer application that either contains or provides direct access to age restricted content from the internet I suppose article 9 applies:
  
  Art. 9º Os fornecedores de produtos ou serviços de tecnologia da informação que disponibilizarem conteúdo, produto ou serviço cuja oferta ou acesso seja impróprio, inadequado ou proibido para menores de 18 (dezoito) anos de idade deverão adotar medidas eficazes para impedir o seu acesso por crianças e adolescentes no âmbito de seus serviços e produtos.
  
  § 1º Para dar efetividade ao disposto no caput, deverão ser adotados mecanismos confiáveis de verificação de idade a cada acesso do usuário ao conteúdo, produto ou serviço de que trata o caput deste artigo, vedada a autodeclaração.
  
  § 2º Para os fins desta Lei, consideram-se impróprios ou inadequados para crianças e adolescentes os produtos, serviços ou conteúdos de tecnologia da informação que contenham material pornográfico, ou quaisquer outros vedados pela legislação vigente.
  
  § 3º Os provedores de aplicações de internet que disponibilizarem conteúdo pornográfico deverão impedir a criação de contas ou de perfis por crianças e adolescentes no âmbito de seus serviços.
  
  So, yeah, if you are providing an operating system that itself comes with any age restricted content as Brazilian law stipulates (such as pornographic content), I think self-reporting of age would be damned insufficient due to § 1º there:
  
  Art. 9. Providers of information technology products or services that make available content, products, or services whose offer or access is improper, inadequate, or prohibited for persons under 18 (eighteen) years of age shall adopt effective measures to prevent their access by children and adolescents within the scope of their services and products.
  
  § 1. To effectuate the provision of the caput, reliable age verification mechanisms shall be adopted for each user access to the content, product, or service referred to in the caput of this article, with self-declaration being prohibited
  
  If there’s anything I’m missing here please point out.
  
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  - obbeel@lemmy.eco.br ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It’s government trying to control people all over again.
    
    Bolsonaro (Flávio) will probably make an argument saying that under him people will be free from control or something like that, but it’s just bullshit. What we would get under him is brazilian ICE (Internal Customs Enforcement - isn’t that funny).
    
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  - Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Great analysis. But I’ve never heard of an OS that comes pre-loaded with porn, or with any media content other than the wallpapers and a few stock samples. Though I suppose there’s nothing stopping anyone from creating Bukkake Linux and shipping it.
    
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- obbeel@lemmy.eco.br ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  MidnightBSD chose to be out of Brazil, like it happened with Rumble. This law will be enforced.
  
  If you live in Brazil and probably South America for some time, you’ll know that it is hard to get hardware from Europe even from Ebay. It simply “does not ship to your destination”. Now with the Mercosur + EU agreement that may be easier, but if software keeps leaving, the hardware and hardware culture won’t be able to make up for it.
  
  It’s just software leaving the margins, and it will get worse if Google keeps pushing Android and Mobile culture further. Brazil may just become as corporate-centric as India.
  
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  - Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    How do you mean about India? Please pardon my ignorance.
    
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- gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  The law isn’t going to be enforced in CA either
  
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MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
You can’t spell “based” without BSD.

Also, that’s pretty much the main reason why FOSS OS are better than proprietary ones. They’ll just say “okay, I guess we’ll just stick to free countries” (while subtly gesturing at the nearest VPN).

Meanwhile, Windows and MacOS are going to fold like origami.

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- mghackerlady@leminal.space ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  OpenBSD did this because of cryptography laws and surprise surprise software written for it is now one of the vertebrae of our modern network stack
  
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BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
This is a feature and not a bug. The biggest distro maintainers will try to comply and the smallest ones will start banning usage or even closing up shop.

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ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Good. I’m glad they’re standing up to this insanity.

It’s ironic though because it’s a California based OS.

By the way, anyone tried gaming on BDD?

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chunes@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I don’t see why a volunteer who lives in, say, Germany has to give a single shit about the law in California or Brazil. It’s up to those countries to block MidnightBSD if they’re that fucking stupid.

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- amju_wolf@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  With all these internationally spanning laws lately maybe it’s time we also had some kind of framework for dispute resolution - mostly something like nations staying behind their citizens in stuff like this, telling the other coubtry tp pound sand / do it themselves.
  
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shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
That’s absolutely brilliant. Don’t let the rest of the world suffer for some people’s government’s stupidity. If the users in those regions disagree with their government, they can figure out other ways to get it and use it.

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thisbenzingring@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
haha I guess that’s one way to deal with it and do nothing at all. Doubtful they block the connections from those areas

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- towerful@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  IDK. It puts them at the forefront of this fight.
  
  If governments successfully prosecute distro maintainers (if they can) for this, then distro maintainers are liable.
  And distro maintainers would then have to pursue non-compliant users to cover that liability, or fold.
  Which is a huge loss for open source.
  
  Or, there would be a huge legal fight and it turns out that the licence of a distro protects it from its users actions.
  Which would be awesome and a massive win. It also makes sense. Nobody is suing an OS maintainer because it was used for a data breach.
  And then the governments have to pursue the actual users. Which… is gonna be useless wrt these laws
  
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Archr@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
exasperated sigh I don’t want to get too deep in it with people again. Here is a link to the California law and some clarifications. (I cannot speak for the Brazilian law as I am not from Brazil)

…legislature.ca.gov/…/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_i…

The law does not require ID verifications it only required that a parent indicate the age of their child when setting up their account.

The law’s definition for operating system provider includes “general purpose computing device” so no, your toaster, microwave, and fridge are not included. (please remember that legal definitions do not always match how we would use the term in everyday conversation)

An “accessible interface” is not well defined here. But it could be as simple as a system call rather than a REST API call. Similar to open file or malloc. (this means no centralized government server storing the data)

I have said this in other posts, but the linux community sticking their heads in the sand and pretending these states don’t exist just leave MS, Google, and Apple to decide how this is implemented. I am glad some distro maintainers are taking this seriously and looking at what is the minimum they would need to implement to comply with the law.

To be clear I do not support this law. The definitions are written so loosely that it leaves much of it up to interpretation. It is clear that they did not meet with anyone in the industry before voting.
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- M0oP0o@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  The law’s definition for operating system provider includes “general purpose computing device” so no, your toaster, microwave, and fridge are not included. (please remember that legal definitions do not always match how we would use the term in everyday conversation)
  
  That does mean (by legal definitions in California) your toaster, microwave and fridge.
  
  And really the choice of “pulling” support from areas with issue laws is the way, this law is not enforceable as written and is likely the easiest way for any OS to avoid legal issues. Just putting in a line that the OS is not supported in the state will not stop the OS being used but will stop legal issues from said state.
  
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  - TrippinMallard@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    people put doom on microwaves
    
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  - Archr@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I’m sorry I am really not seeing what you are referencing from your link. This appears to be a link to the state administration manual which deals with how departments in the state of California operate.
    
    This does not appear to be a law especially when you look at the procedure for revising the SAM.
    
    Responsibility for updating SAM content is assigned to authoring state departments
    
    Ie. Not assembly members.
    
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- obbeel@lemmy.eco.br ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Didn’t hear anything about it in Brazil. It’s being done under the radar. Can’t even find articles about it.
  
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  - curiousfurbytes@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Same here, didn’t hear a thing about this, I was actually kinda confused when I opened the article.
    
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KiwiTB@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Im just glad BSD is getting press.

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texture@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
ive been waiting to read headlines of this sort. cheers.

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TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

how this would actually be enforced; maybe the official website and download mirrors for MidnightBSD will be out of reach for people in those regions. Of course, a tech-savvy crowd who uses MidnightBSD will know how to bypass such an embargo. It makes you wonder how effective such age verification laws are. Oh wait, some of these so-called public servants are also pushing for VPNs to be banned.

As it stands these laws are unenforcable, and plenty of businesses would be impacted. First, think of the meaning of ’ internet connected device, with an operating system '; such vague definition. Is a modern fridge, sensor or monitoring system supposed to verify the age of any user that comes in touch with these? Impractical. Second, any commercial activity has computers running everything. These computers are not registered for any single user, but for the activity as a whole. The emplyees may insert a code when they operate the computer (emplyee - Id within the business) but that’s it. Office complexes would be decimated by this stupid setup. And there comes the VPN ban. Again, plenty of businesses rely on vpn and private networks. Once again, this is quite possibly unenforceable without ruining the backbone of the infrastructure we collectively use. People writing laws like thes are quite possibly unable to understand how it runs. The lack of technical knowledge is staggering.

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- TrollTrollrolllol@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  They don’t care about the details they just want control.
  
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- 001Guy001@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  They will either give special permissions to relevant businesses (maybe an expensive Super Premium Golden Access), or use selective enforcement to only go after people/businesses that don’t comply to their overall authoritarianism and pose too much of a risk to the status quo.
  
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TheLastOfHisName@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Why do I get the feeling I will be distro hopping in the not-too-distant future?

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drath@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
California L. Outsourcing child care to random people who are not even US citizens. Thats like forcing knife manufacturers to make the knives child-safe.

On a sidenote, while looking up the history of actual legal cases involving children in California, I stumbled upon a story of Joseph Hall, son of abusive, alcoholic, insignia wearing, salute throwing, nazi activist piece of shit Jeffrey Hall, whom, at age 10, he shot in his sleep after being given a gun by him, and for which he was put into juvenile detention centers for 12 years until he turned 23, instead of… idk… being declared a national hero and given a compensation for the society failing upon him.

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nathan@piefed.alphapuggle.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Ironic for “the bsd for everyone”

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- inari@piefed.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  *Terms and conditions may apply
  
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- Sxan@piefed.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Curse you. I came here to say, “þey’re going to have to change þeir motto to: The BSD for everyone, except Brazilians and Californians, and probably soon New Yorkers too. And probably the British, sooner rather than later.”
  
  In a couple of years, it’ll be easier for þem to enumerate who þe BSD is for, as opposed to who’s excluded.
  
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  - mghackerlady@leminal.space ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Look, I appreciate using Þe Þorn but at least be consistent about it
    
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pfr@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Personally, I don’t think this is the answer. Like, I get it, and it’s a sure way to avoid having to deal with all this bs. But at the end of the day, the only people who suffer from this decision are the end users. It’s punishing them for something their government has implemented. Doesn’t seem right to me.

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- tty84@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It is not up to the developer community to take responsibility for the stupid decisions made by their government.
  
  People get the leaders they deserve.
  
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  - pfr@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    People get the leaders they deserve.
    
    Sadly, they often do not.
    
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- Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Cutting services as opposed to complyimg is the better approach, since the other is a endorsement of it without consequences for regions putting it in place.
  
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  - pfr@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    There is already the option of non compliance.
    
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- EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  An important thing to understand here is that in America, the people have the power over their government. The people of California are responsible for putting the people who did this in power, and it’s their responsibility for getting them out again.
  
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  - pfr@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    This is now in many countries, not just the US
    
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kepix@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
how its done

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