It’s worse than nothing, it’s an engagement metric. It’s better to block it entirely with plugins or ignore it.

Woah, I was trying to see it the other way and tilted my phone just enough for the picture to rotate - it was immediately apparent what people were talking about. Now I can see it both ways.

Fair on the privacy aspect, but again, I’ll point out that Microsoft Family already does the age bracket thing. I think how it’s done is slightly different, as software/websites have to disclose age groups rather than requesting it. Different sides of the same coin to be sure.

As for parents, I think it’s a mixed bag. I know a lot who are a mess at computers. Most don’t even know these tools even exist. Those that do, don’t have the time to do it properly (it only takes one night when your kid gets locked out of their account doing schoolwork due to screen time limits and your trying to troubleshoot why your approval to your kids request isn’t going thru via your phone, etc). But there certainly are also those that don’t care at all or feel they shouldn’t have to do it. It’s getting better though, I see a lot less young people with tech blindness every year.

So this is where devils advocate comes into play. Pretty sure we all are agreed that this law, or anything like it, is ‘not good’. And I’ll leave it at that. Just keep that context in mind as I elaborate further.

Windows actually does do this on install. However, the Microsoft Family feature uses Microsoft Accounts. So technically, sure it’s not the OS (though it IS part of the OS, as you don’t need to download anything extra to enable it’s functions).

But you have to go out of your way now to do an offline windows install without a Microsoft Account. If you’re that savvy, you’re capable of monitoring your child without the help of big government. If you’re a child, then nothing but honesty is keeping you from jumping walls.

But that is windows, and this is Linux. Now I’m not making accusations, but do we really want to push the idea that this form of control needs to be pushed out across everything, simply because the current solution that would work for most families isn’t done at the “OS” level?

And to top it off, I don’t even see it working. Most family devices are set up on an account with a single login. Managing access is not a ‘one and done’ process, at some point you will have to provide permissions, install software, change active hours, approve screen time requests, troubleshoot related problems, and more (and soooo much more if your kid is technically adept). Is it no wonder that most parents just give kids free reign to their computers and consoles?

So before we go around and ruin the experience and privacy of everyone, can we at least ask what the people who want this have done instead? Cause it really does feel like it’s coming from a group who wants everything done for them.

Windows can do that too, for the applications and websites that support it. There is no point in forcing it onto other ecosystems if parents are not willing to use the tools in the ones they already exist in.

And I don’t understand, because windows already does this and has for years. I don’t live in California though, so I don’t know the particular nuances they are asking for.

The problem is, and has always been, getting parents to use the tools. So unless you’re sending parents to jail for not doing this, then it’s totally optional and most won’t use it.

If you want screentime limits, content filters, browsing history, restricted programs, age verification, wallet control, friends list filters, etc. It exists and is available on Windows and Xbox for free.

There were rules for how numbers were issued. You could tell where and when someone was born based on their number. Im unsure if it was changed, but I can see how high population areas could run out of their quota and need a new block

Meh.

I was inside a mountain during an earthquake…

I paid into this, even if you did not, if you qualify, then you must take advantage of it. This is my gift for you.

I don’t know the outcome, I left shortly after. People owned these units, HOA can force a particular style of lock to match all the other units, but they can’t bust into homes and force homeowners to change their locks. How each homeowner resolved the issue wasn’t their concern, but I do think they hired a locksmith as a courtesy. It just took HOA a long time to figure out what to do.

Your confusion stems from the bureaucracy, not the method. Even if it was ‘simple as’, the result is the same.

Some doors yes, other doors you have to take the whole thing apart. I would say most are not ‘easy’. I don’t know the outcome, I think they were rekeyed because I was told to keep the lock even if I replaced it. I left that week for unrelated reasons and had my property manager deal with it.

There was a building manager (if it could be called as such) but they were responsible for coordinating mandatory inspections (fire hazards, alarms, etc) and common areas. They were absolutely not responsible for keys. Not all places are the same.

Edit: Should also mention people owned these properties, it wasn’t rental apartments.

They don’t, they just didn’t want some regular old locks on some doors mixing with their fancy locks they overpaid for that matches all the other units.

Yeah, and I think when homes are manufactured they just buy sets in bulk. One would think they would rekey them, but I guess not. I mean, even if they were, you should rekey your locks in any new home anyways - but even I fell victim to that because despite knowing this, no one ever does, and it happened twice. You think one would learn.

Yeah, but they were somewhat reasonable about it. You could get new locks to prevent break-ins, but it took them a very long time to figure out what they were going to do. It was all brand new and the locks technically worked, so I guess they had to have meetings to figure out if they needed to sue or to buy new locks, change the design…or whatever the HOA does. They ended up telling everyone to keep their old locks and I think they just rekeyed them? I left during all that mess (not for that reason) so idk.

Actually, a lot of locks ARE the same. I lived in a brand-new complex years back, and everyone had the same lock and key. It didn’t take long for some kids to start breaking into other people’s houses, and since it was all under HOA owners couldn’t just buy mismatched locks.

Then when I bought a 10 yr old home later, I was sitting at the house when some maintenance crew unlocked my door and walked right in. They tried to tell me I was squatting and it wasn’t until they realized they were to do work on my neighbors house. Went and checked with other neighbors and found out a handful of us all had the same keys of about 4 varieties. Ironically, there were even two families that knew this before then and they told us how they bought new locks - and found out that those too were the same key.

So basically, if you buy a new lock, you should have it checked by a locksmith and rekeyed if needed.

Edit: There is a lot of side discussion on this post. Feel free to inquire and discuss, but note that context was left out in a lot of places. I understand HOAs can be difficult, but the OP is about locks. Just be mindful that there is more to the story I did not detail.

I don’t understand. Can you not do this? Please don’t tell me this is my superpower…

Ancient Chinese Proverb found in Fortune Cookie says:

“You can walk on water too, if it is cold enough.”

To be blunt (but not to be mean), RTFM or google it. There are lots of ways to do it, and it all depends on the capabilities of your devices, OS, browsers and whether or not you want to use apps to manage it. And again, I’m not trying to be mean, it’s just that the question has the same effort as “how do I make food?”. I could give you the most gourmet answer and it may not help.

But to answer as simply as possible: Most browsers can do cookie whitelisting out of the box. Just be aware that it doesn’t prevent cookies outside the browser or outside the device - so if you have (for instance) a smart tv, you’ll need other solutions. And the solutions snowball from there, so I will leave it at that.