March 25, 2026 at 10:25 AM CDT:
There are new laws in some places that require operating systems to have age verification. Apple and Microsoft already have the built-in capabilities to do this, but Linux-based operating systems, by their very nature, such as F3OS, do not. Some Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat/Fedora, and Arch Linux have said that they will comply with these laws. Others, however, such as Devuan (the SystemD-free fork of Debian, which F3OS is now based on) and Artix (the SystemD-free fork of Arch Linux) have publicly stated that they will not comply.
I, Fred McKinney, the creator of F3OS, am very deeply and bitterly opposed to these laws. First of all, F3OS is already a filtered Linux distribution, which should make matters such as this an acceptable alternative to such laws. That, unfortunately, is not the point of these laws. These laws allow people to have access to information regarding where children live. As a born-again Christian, my conscience will not allow me to comply with these laws. Therefore, starting today, IP geolocation has now been added to the F3OS website, blocking access to the website from states or countries with these laws. This morning, I blocked the nation of Brazil from this site due to such a law that went into effect on Tuesday, March 17. I have also been forced to block the US state of California from being able to access the F3OS website as well due to it having a similar law that was signed by California governor Gavin Newsom in 2025, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. As such, I hate to do this, I really do, but I have no choice — if you live in California or Brazil, I now hereby forbid you from downloading F3OS.