Ah, yeah, then they can’t be touched unless Canada passes something stupid, too. Which in the general global political climate… Isn’t impossible. But they may just geoblock California and other jurisdictions with similar laws so they can have plausible deniability. Of course, users could circumvent that entirely a dozen different ways, especially those technically inclined enough to install GrapheneOS, so I’m not sure how much it would really hurt them.
Are the devs even in a jurisdiction where that matters? Given they’re working on a project specifically focused on privacy and security, even if they are in such a jurisdiction, are they actually traceable, or have they been obfuscating their identity with tools like Tor? It might not be enforceable.
That’s better, at least. GrapheneOS users should be fine at least since there are extensive restrictions on Play. Other Android ROMs may have issues, though. Maybe not if they use MicroG.
GrapheneOS is built on AOSP, which is where the change is being made. Graphene and other custom ROMs will need to maintain a fork that cuts out the feature if they want to avoid. Google is also starting to close off Android to make that more difficult, so it’ll become a genuine project to maintain the fork well.
Pretty sure it’s a change to AOSP, the basis for every single Android ROM in existence.
It’s a whole lot more than just firmware, though. The UI is proprietary. A bunch of the basic system apps are proprietary. The Android compatibility layer is proprietary. You’re not really buying into an open OS that happens to have proprietary components; you’re getting a proprietary OS built in open components.
A lot of people who are eager to install Linux on their phones this early are out off by the proprietary parts of SailfishOS. I personally want a Linux phone in large part due to distrust of proprietary software for a device with such capacity to invade my privacy.
Lmao good fucking luck enforcing this on Linux. There’s no central authority to handle age verification, and even if there was, it’d take less than a week for someone to make a patched version of whatever tool they use that just… Autoreports that you’re an adult no matter what.
That’s the whole point, though, they don’t have to implement it. They’re under no obligation at all to do so. Try to rule Linux is illegal in California and watch Silicon Valley lobbyists damn near riot. They’re just giving in, but even just procrastination would be a ridiculously effective tactic.