From The Chief Editor's Desk...

Those so-called legislators … you know, the ones who don’t know the difference between RAM, drive space, and a CPU, much less how to even turn a computer on … are pushing for legislation that mandates age verification to install an operating system.

Their “showmanship” really is just that … showmanship. At the end of the day, such asinine legislation accomplishes absolutely nothing, but they can go to their constituents at reelection time and say, “See! I’m supporting everything I can to keep your kids safe from online predators!”

California and Colorado are states on the verge of passing these types of stupid laws (if they haven’t already). I mention California and Colorado because the bills introduced in those two states are almost exactly the same, word for word. And those two pieces of legislation have ZERO teeth in them. Basically, the whole age verification is on the honor system. In other words, all you have to do is “attest” that you are over 18 years of age.

Mississippi was the first state to enact age verification legislation, and it only states that service providers have to make reasonable efforts to ascertain a new user’s age when they sign up for a new account. You can read their law here. It says NOTHING about age verification to install an operating system.

Surprisingly, legislation has been introduced in Texas (of all places) regarding age verification. Unlike the legislation in California and Colorado, the Texas legislation requires verification of your age. The customary “verifiers” are either a credit card number or the number off of a government-issued ID (like a driver’s license). Boy, doesn’t that make it RIPE for hackers looking to steal your personal, private information!

Of course, much of this goes back to my thoughts that legislators should NOT be tasked with writing and passing laws about things they have next to zero understanding about (like computers and computer operating systems). Geez, these elected “Einsteins” think a fax machine is a modern miracle. Or, they think “passw0rd” or “passw0rd123” is an example of a secure password. Yet here they are, trying to write and pass legislation that affects every person who does have a greater understanding of the modern world.

So, here’s what I’d like to tell these legislators. Just because you know how to turn a computer on, or you know how to scroll Facebook and check your email, that does not mean you are a computer “expert.” Not even close! You don’t have but even the thinnest veil of computer literacy, and as such, you should NOT be writing legislation or voting on legislation governing the computer industry. There’s FAR, FAR more to being computer literate (turning a computer on, scrolling Facebook, and checking your email doesn’t qualify), so there’s absolutely no chance that you can even begin to grasp or comprehend the far reaching ramifications of said legislation.

This is, without a doubt, one area where your constituents are far better off without your intervention than they would be with it. And, this isn’t something that should be farmed out to your favorite lobbyists, PACs, and other special interest groups, all of whom have their own self-serving take on the topic.

This month’s cover was generated with Bing Image Creator. It goes right along with one of our articles this month, covering the current state of U.S. income tax filing. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in just 10 years, much less the last 20 years, in this area. When I first started with Linux, there were few to no options for Linux users, aside from either dual booting their system with Linux and Windows, or keeping a copy of Windows installed in a virtual machine. Now, with everything online, Linux users are no longer “shut out” from the U.S. income tax circus (Yay for us! … [/sarcasm]) Don’t forget … the “deadline” for filing your 2025 income taxes is April 15!

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health.