Linux may get exemption from Colorado age-check bill • The Register

https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/22/linux_us_state_age_verificaiton_laws/

Publish Date: 2026-04-22 13:55:00

The prospect of OS-level age checks applying to open source systems is a serious concern for FOSS advocates. Campaigners appear to have secured proposed exemptions for open source operating systems, code repositories, and containers in one US state, but stricter federal legislation has already been introduced in Congress.

Carl Richell, founder of Linux PC vendor System76, reports some encouraging news from the company’s home state of Colorado: the bill is still moving, but amended language appears likely to exclude FOSS OSes and some of the tools used to build and distribute them. He hopes to set a precedent in Colorado and then use it to persuade other state legislatures. The problem is that this may yet become somewhat moot, because the US Congress is getting interested as well, and national legislation may follow.

This story has been developing for some months now: we first reported on this new legislation in early March, and the following week on Richell’s campaigning efforts. Later that month, we reported that systemd had added code to store user ages.

In that story, we also reported on the independent TBOTE Project, which is investigating the funding of the lobbying efforts and the relatively new conservative pressure groups pressing for the laws, such as the Digital Childhood Alliance (founded in 2025). TBOTE echoes Bloomberg’s reporting: Meta appears to be a major financial force behind recent age-verification lobbying.

On Tuesday, in a Mastodon post, Richell reported:

I received the amended Colorado Age Attestation bill.

Open source OS’s and apps are excluded
Code repos are excluded (github/gitlab)
Containers are excluded (docker/podman)

I testify Thursday and can use your help! I need your stories about incredible things kids have made thanks to access to open source software. Share here or DM me.

Richell, whose company…

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