Well, well, well. Looks like my non-A.I. prediction was correct. On the News yesterday was stated Meta is reducing its workforce by 8,000 (and Microsoft is offering 7% of its workforce voluntary redundancy).
No problem if Zorin brothers are recruiting 
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A post was split to a new topic: Ubuntu plans on adding A.I.?
This is such a crock of Bull. It's funny how the people who do nothing about school shootings and protect billionaire abusers of kids suddenly care about them using computers right after Microslop took a hit from people switching to Linux.
This has to be sponsored by Microslop and others who want to even the playing field by making Linux less private and also mine more data. If they don't require proof of age it's pointless, and if they do it's a gross invasion of our privacy.
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Many indications show that large corporations like Meta are indeed sponsoring such bills. This is not conspiracy hypotheticals; but a known reality.
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Yes, I remember either reading or seeing a YouTube video with reference to Steve Ballmer's statement "I love Linux" (but forgot about GNU, the OS) and elsewhere was reported as having said "Linux is a cancer".
It does feel like playing out for the benefit of the big players but ultimately to Meta who has used dark funding of a single LLC to finance the lobbying group Child Safety Alliance. It puts them in an advantageous spot over its competitors and deflects their failure, morally and legally to allow unfiltered content. They have rightly lost the first round in this battle with the legal cases successfully brought against them.
Sisenote. The coordinator of our local Linux User Group told me that a medical student passed their Doctorate with their thesis that Windows causes mental health issues.
Its nothing but a psy-op to destroy Linux, because unlike Windows, it can't be monitized against the user. Our government already proved it was broken, when it didn't go after Microsoft for doing this very thing. Now, they get away with messing with other operating systems, that have nothing to do with Micrslop or their Windows. Way too much lobbying going on, way too much corruption. Ya know its bad if ya can't even trust your own country, or the mega companies, controlling it from within.
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Hi,
thank you for this clear explanation.
In my opinion, there is an important distinction that should not be lost in this debate.
If a specific website or online service is legally required to check age or identity, that is one thing. A website is an online service, and the responsibility should remain with the service that provides the restricted content.
But the operating system itself is different.
The operating system is the basic layer of the computer. It should not become an identity checkpoint before a person can fully use their own device. A local desktop system should not have to collect age, ID, face scans, or personal verification data just to allow the user to operate the machine they bought.
This is especially important for Linux systems like Zorin OS, because they are not built around mandatory online accounts by default. A user can install the system, create a local account, and use the computer without being forced into a cloud identity system.
That is one of the strongest values of Linux: the computer remains under the control of the user.
Child safety is important, of course. But the solution should not be to turn every operating system into an identity-verification system. Once that kind of infrastructure exists at OS level, it could easily be expanded later for other purposes.
For me, age verification belongs, if legally necessary, at the level of the specific online service not at the level of the operating system itself.
This is one of the reasons why I support Zorin OS and Linux in general. They help preserve the idea that a personal computer should still be personal.
Best regards,
Daniel
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And also overseas. I remember reading an article when I had just ventured out into the GNU/Linux world where GNU/Linux was going to be deployed in an African country, but MS created FUD and so the country went with MS.
Then there was the Munich change and when the Mayor was replaced by an MS devotee, the city moved back to Microslop.
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Hi,
yes, that is an important point.
The success of Linux adoption is not only a technical question. In many cases, it is also about politics, procurement, training, support contracts, fear of change, and vendor lock-in.
A Linux system can be technically good, but if users are afraid of compatibility problems, missing support, or a different workflow, then decision-makers may go back to the familiar commercial solution even if that solution is not always better for independence or long-term control.
That is why beginner-friendly distributions are so important.
If Linux feels too unfamiliar at the first contact, many people will not stay long enough to see its advantages. But if the transition is made simple, practical, and familiar, then people have a real chance to understand that Linux is not only for experts.
For me, this is where Zorin OS has real value. It reduces the fear of switching and gives normal users a bridge from Windows into the Linux world.
Linux adoption is not only about software. It is also about confidence.
Best regards,
Daniel
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This whole topic makes me feel sad and frustrated. I do a lot to stay private online and being forced to upload important personal information online makes me angry, frustrated and depressed. My government, in the EU, is forcing the adoption of digital driving licences, ID cards and even trying to move us away from cash money and into digital currency. Hackers will exploit that.
What do we do about having students who can't stay awake in class. Their eyes closing, heads nodding, they can't concentrate or learn anything. They're up all-night gaming, or spending 8 hours a day, sometimes more, on social media sites. 18 year old girls getting lip fillers and Botox injectionsâŠ. The noun: influencer exists for a reason.
They also try to cheat, using AI to make their projects, do their homework and swat-up for exams. That doesn't even touch on the issues of child grooming, exploitation and blackmail.
I canât see an answer to these 21st century problems.
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Neither do I. Have you seen the reports on GenA, their worse then GenZ ever were. We might not ever have a resolution to these issues, till the 22nd century.
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It is heartbreaking.
I had a teenage student playing on Roblox during a lesson last Wednesday. He's bright, he'd completed the task... I'm aware of the #FreeShlep issues... I engaged with him. He showed me "The Best Game in the World" and that's all I could do in that moment - new teacher, bright student - try to make a connection and keep him open and learning.
I want us to keep our privacy, I want free access to the wide open world of technology, but somehow we must protect children.
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Take a look at my webpages here:
We don't need laws, just information for parents to make the right decisions and to inform them of OpenDNS to control internet access at home, and Fairphone devices from murena.io that have /e/OS v3 up.
People often don't know how to "parent", some work nights, have multiple children and just sit on their phones LOLing on TikToc. Also, I'm not in the UK or US, these people don't speak English.
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"... several third-party DNS filtering services offer user interfaces in multiple languages, serving as alternatives to OpenDNS.
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Yandex.DNS : A free service from the Russian tech company Yandex that offers filtering options and is likely to have a fully localized Russian interface, catering to its primary market.
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Control D : A modern DNS service noted as a direct alternative to OpenDNS, with a customizable interface. Its parent company is based in Canada, but its software is known for broader language support.
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Pi-hole : An open-source, self-hosted network-wide ad blocker that functions as a DNS sinkhole. As a community-driven project, its web interface (AdminLTE) has been translated into numerous languages by contributors.
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European Initiatives : Services like the one from Freifunk MĂŒnchen, a German non-profit, provide public DNS resolvers with secure protocols and are likely to offer interfaces in local languages like German."
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The documents actually do exist... of the Ancient Romans and Ancient Greeks... Complaining about the young generations. We are all pretty much the same. And nothing has change... for tens of thousands of years.
Before Roblox, it was playing with something else. I remember sitting in class well before cell phones, playing with my calculator. A lot.
Before any electronics, they played with whatever. A loose bolt on the desk. Gouging a hole into the wood with a pen.
In Elementary school, I played paper footballs, I dismantled my pen and made rocket ships...
Because every generation does not like being bound to a classroom. Like kittens living in a house with rules, we just want to romp and play.
That is how it is.
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Yes, I remember the Youth leader at our church reading out something bemoaning the behaviour of the younger generation. He asked the congregation to whom they thought it was referring and when they thought it was written. It was several thousand years old and from ancient Greece.
I didn't tell my student off for playing on his phone in my class. No, I engaged with him and showed interest in what he enjoyed. Having said all of that, there is a lot of scientific evidence that shows what excessive screen-time and a lack of sleep does to the developing brain. It isn't the same as making paper footballs and rocket ships... ... .... It can actually cause structural changes to the brain and cognitive impairment. When added to a lack of sleep, the cerebral cortex is often thinner and the white matter is disorganised, which interrupts memory function, attention spans and emotional regulation.
In the past I've given students construction paper and encouraged them to make origami animals. Like turning a pen into a rocket ship, this encourages creativity and engages both hemispheres of the brain, encouraging spatial reasoning and mental rotation.
Something needs to be done to protect children, while preserving privacy. The dangers are very real and I haven't even touched on some of the most serious because this isn't really the platform.
Pens (Bic biro) were often dismantled and turned into pea shooters when I was in school.
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The conversations regarding creativity, are putting a smile on my face. Its due to our creativity, are how humanity as a whole, have created such amazing things. Humans lose that creativity, when they turn their brains off, to let AI do all the thinking and creating for them. Were already seeing the dangers of that now.
I don't think age verification is going to do any good. Its just 1-step out of many, that pushes everyone towards a Blade Runner style dystopia civilization. People like Elon Musk, are pushing us all towards it, with no care in the world. Money is always involved, at every choice against a citizen.
And you folks are right, nothing like forcing a kid to be in a place they don't want to be for hours of the day, to make them ansi and act up. I really don't think we know what were doing in human society. Were just making it up as we go along, hoping for the best.
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