Starting in the year 2027, the state of California will require you to get verification before you can use an operating system. This applies to all operating systems. AB 1043 mandates that your age be verified by the providers of any operating system you want to use, with this being implemented in the operating system itself.
While for now the new law requires only a user submit an age, which superficially seems to be a low hurdle for use, it lays the technical groundwork to allow or stop anyone from from using any operating system with whatever future requirements needed that the state may request and require.
In other words, you must ask for permission to use a computer… which the government is now empowered to deny. This is the type of authoritarian control that North Korea would envy!
The immediate effect of this bill, beyond creating the framework for an authoritarian regime, is to make many operating systems, where such implementation is impossible, illegal in California.
“The law defines ‘operating system provider’ as anyone who ‘develops, licenses, or controls’ an OS. That includes Linus Torvalds. It includes the FreeBSD foundation. It includes every hobbyist who maintains a Linux distribution. The penalty is $2,500 per affected child for negligent violations, $7,500 per intentional violation.
“Linux distributions don’t have ‘account setup.’ They don’t have app stores with handshake APIs. Most don’t even have mandatory user accounts. The law assumes every computing device works like an iPhone, with a centralized identity system and a curated marketplace.”
Worse, this is spreading to other states, with Colorado considering a similar law.
Already, people are ceasing sales and distribution in California of free operating systems. The DB48X project, which “intends to rebuild and improve the user experience of the HP48 family of calculators”, will no longer allow residents of California and Colorado to use their software.
The FreeBSD based MidnightBSD will not exclude residents of California from its license to use. This is particularly ironic since “BSD” stands for “Berkeley Standard Distribution”, which is now banned in Berkeley itself!
Remember, whenever they say “it’s for the children” in order to protect them, its actually about controlling adults.
The text of the new law can be read here, or below:
California AB 1043 (2025) by ThePoliticalHat
Some additional commentary from others:
California Law to Require Linux, Windows Implement Age Verification by Jan 1, 2027
A new California Law (AB-1043), signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, requires all Operating Systems (from macOS to FreeBSD) to implement age verification, at the system level, this year. pic.twitter.com/2dsK4IzVSL
— The Lunduke Journal (@LundukeJournal) February 25, 2026
