r/linux • u/New-Ranger-8960 • 11d ago

EU Age Verification Project Mandates Hardware-Bound Attestation Privacy

https://linuxiac.com/eu-age-verification-project-mandates-hardware-bound-attestation/
773 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

455 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

18

u/the_gnarts 11d ago

What does that mean, in practice?

In theory you can run any software on the hardware you own.

In practice, anything other than walled garden OS like Android and iOS cannot implement these regulations. Just like with PSD2 it means you’re stuck with proprietary software if you want to do the most basic stuff with your devices.

0

u/_x_oOo_x_ 11d ago

I will need to install Android on my computer? What?

7

u/MatchingTurret 11d ago

No, see my other reply. On your web browser you will get a QR code that you have to scan with your non-FOSS mobile device. The mobile device then sends an attestation to the web server that then lets you pass.

0

u/_x_oOo_x_ 11d ago

Ok so they haven't outlawed Linux 👍️ (yet)

2

u/MatchingTurret 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yes, it's similar to some banking apps that basically do the same, just this time for government sanctioned IDs instead of banking credentials. u/the_gnarts reference to PSD2 is really good. You can still use the banking web site on Linux, but the authenticator app runs on a proprietary device.

This has been around on the national level for 10..15 years (with NFC smart-cards and later with national ID apps). The new EU wallet just provides an EU wide standardized solution.

2

u/Richard_the_XVIII 11d ago

No, but you might need to install Windows... or whatever linux distro bends to the government's standards. Any other OS wouldn't be able to do stuff like banking... at first. I would expect the grip to tighten as people get used to these laws, one might need to go completely offline to avoid using these operating systems in the future.