Configuration Tiers: Three Levels of Infraction
TIER 0, “The Pamphlet” ~$6 Minimum viable violation. A bootable Linux device with a display, network connectivity, and an app store. No battery, no keyboard – just proof that this constitutes a regulated device under AB 1043. Good for bulk handout at conferences (50-100 units).
Legal status: Arguable. The 128×64 display introduces fuzziness. The AG could claim it’s a dev board. That’s fine – ambiguity is instructive too.
TIER 1, “The Computer”, ~$12 An unambiguous general purpose computing device. Color display, keyboard, WiFi, Linux, app store, user setup. The core product. There is no interpretive gap between this device and the law’s definitions.
Legal status: Unambiguous. This is a computer with a color display, keyboard, WiFi, Linux, and an app store. It does not collect age data. It is handed to a child. The maximum fine is $7,500.
TIER 2, “The Appliance”, ~$18 A self-contained, battery-powered pocket Linux computer. The educational device angle – a modern descendant of the Acorn BBC Micro and the original Raspberry Pi.
Legal status: Beyond unambiguous. A pocket computer with a color screen, keyboard, battery, WiFi, 8GB storage, and an AI accelerator. It costs less than a large pizza. It fits in a child’s hand.
Every tab on this site is gold:
How Distros Are Responding: We track how Linux distributions are responding to age verification mandates, and we provide tools to undo whatever they implement. If a distribution adds an age collection prompt, we will publish a script that removes it. If it ships a D-Bus age verification daemon, we will publish a package that replaces it with silence.
How One Bill Becomes Every Bill: AB 1043 was not written in isolation. It is a template. ICMEC published the model text as a ready-to-introduce statutory draft, and its Global Head of Policy presented it directly to Virginia’s Joint Commission on Technology and Science. The same organizations that drafted the model bill are now deploying it in state legislatures across the country. The companies that benefit from the compliance moat fund the advocacy organizations that draft the bills that create the compliance moat. […]
The Door That Stays Open: AB 1043 requires only self-declared age – a birthdate field, not government ID or biometrics. Industry analysts have described this as “an initial implementation designed to get the door open.” Self-declaration today. Biometric verification tomorrow. The infrastructure is the same; only the input changes. Once every operating system has an age collection interface and a real-time API for transmitting age data to applications, upgrading from a text field to a face scan is a configuration change, not a new law.
Penalty Comparison: Cost of Giving a Child a Computer:
Cost of one Ageless Linux device: $12-18 Maximum combined US penalty for one device given to one child: $46,000 US penalty-to-cost ratio: 3,067:1 Brazil penalty for one violation: up to 522,222:1
Previously, previously, previously, previously.
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