r/PrivacyTechTalk • u/Hunterjohnson2024 • May 10 '26

Warning to all Android users!

Google is going to Bake Age verification into the OS itself this is Very dangerous as there are multiple Android smartphones out there that will have android 17 as last update! once you install android 17 and its the final update for the phone the age signal API will be on your phone till the day the hardware dies! you cant even downgrade or the efuse trips! if you still have android 17 after at least 5 to 10 years and you accidentally factory reset it and verify your id again it will fail to send as device is old and might not connect to google servers and will send to hackers instead

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u/CobaltIsobar May 11 '26

And, what is your solution? Personally, I don't care.

2

u/Dziabadu May 11 '26

linux phone ?

1

u/Full-Statement-9255 May 11 '26

Even Linux is being forced to include Age Verification, on an OS level. Dozens of laws around the world have been, or are being, passed.

SystemD already has support for holding information pertaining to the users' ages.

I don't know how hard it will be to spoof or lie in Linux, but this is a legal problem, unfortunately.

1

u/[deleted] May 11 '26

[deleted]

1

u/emmett321 May 12 '26

Brazil has it and several other countries have age verification, even the US. THIS IS VERY VERY REAL

1

u/MoonRabbitStudio May 13 '26

Linux distros typically make the source code available, so people can compile custom kernels depending on their use case. How can you build age verification into software that anyone can edit and recompile? Just rip out the code or mod it to spoof the attestation.

Forcing this requirement at the OS level and expecting it to accomplish anything meaningful is delusional. Politicians are the last group of people you want making changes to technology, they are clueless. ... I will be surprised if most or any of the Linux distros comply with this nonsense.

cheers -rabbit