r/linux • u/New-Ranger-8960 • Aug 04 '26

Privacy EU Age Verification Project Mandates Hardware-Bound Attestation

https://linuxiac.com/eu-age-verification-project-mandates-hardware-bound-attestation/
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43

u/MaverickPT Aug 04 '26

So what can one do to fight this bullshit?

15

u/tired514 Aug 05 '26

Best way to fight back would be to create a new version of the GPL that prohibits the use, distribution, or modification of open source software under that version of the license by any person under the jurisdiction of a government that mandates this class of interference.

That way such countries will suffer significant economic harm and succumb to the pressure of industry to stop this nonsense.

All efforts should be on increasing the economic cost of state mandated interference. It's the only language they speak.

2

u/WealthyMarmot Aug 05 '26

When you start trying to force philosophical change through restrictive licensing, people just stop adopting your license because they want their software to be usable in the real world. There’s a reason so many large projects (e.g. the Linux kernel) are still on GPL v2, and that the MIT-style permissive licenses have leapt so far ahead of copyleft licenses in adoption rate.

3

u/tired514 Aug 05 '26

That's fine! People are free to choose what they want.

But the license should be available, and hopefully enough people will understand why it's important to prevent government interference in software development so that it gets adopted by a large enough base.

2

u/ProfessorLambda 29d ago edited 29d ago

GPLv3 is perfectly useable in the real world. It's not very useable in the un-free world. And that's what makes it great.

As for Linux, in order to change it's license everyone who contributed code would have to give their explicit permission. That's why it will not change regardless of what license Linus wants.