Conversation
tech-news

Tech News

Edited 2 days ago

Democrats Infringe on Open Source, Legislate Spyware

Adafruit, the maker-focused electronics design house and manufacturer based in New York, keeps finding that it needs to defend open source from busy-body politicians. Last month, the outwardly non-political, tech-focused company spoke out against New York Mayor Mamdami’s misinformed actions against Raspberry Pis.

Now Adafruit is speaking out against proposed legislation in Democratically-controlled Colorado that would require Linux and other open source operating systems to implement unsound age-verification practices. The Electronic Frontier Foundation maintains a website on the perils of age-verification technlogy.

Adafruit’s blog post also points out other recent challenges to makers and 3D printing, highlighting legislation in the Democratically-controlled states of New York and California that would limit 3D printers from printing parts that are somehow deemed usable in firearms. Adafruit is correct in asserting that such laws do not work, infringe on other uses of 3D printing technology, and drive up the costs and legal risks for manufacturers of maker-focused manufacturers and hobbyists.

0
0
0
About NoVaLUG

The Northern Virginia Linux Users Group (NoVaLUG)

We are a curious, informal, and friendly mix of IT professionals, hobbyists, students, and others with an interest in Linux, Free and Open Source software, and open knowledge. The Northern Virginia Linux Users Group (NoVaLUG) is the oldest LUG in the Northern VA area and likely in the whole of US, established in 1993.

Obtaining an Account

Accounts on this server are limited to members of NoVaLUG. To get an invite link, you must do one of the following:

  1. Ask for a link at one of our meetings.
  2. Send a message on our mailing list asking for a link.
  3. Request an invite link in our Signal chat group.

Service Information

Users on this server may be referred to with the novalug.org domain name (e.g. "foo@novalug.org" or "@foo@novalug.org"). However, when using URLs, the full hostname of akk.novalug.org must be used (e.g. "https://akk.novalug.org/foo").

To use this server with other clients, such as mobile apps, use the full host name of akk.novalug.org.

If you prefer the "classic" Mastodon UI, go here.

Code of Conduct

Our rules are simple.

  1. Be kind, be courteous.
  2. No porn.
  3. No spam.
  4. No harassment.
  5. No illegal behavior.
  6. Users must be 13 years of age or older.
We reserve the right to reject, delete, moderate and take any other action necessary. Simply put, don't be a jerk!