MOFO Linux Opts to Archive Rather Than Comply with Age Verification
Message from MOFO Linux Maintainer
The MOFO Linux Project is being archived. Due to declining user interest in the MOFO Linux and increasingly unfavorable news, social media, and legislative environments, I have decided to get rid of the domain and wind down the project. It is an untenable situation and I am done with offering liberation to people who don't want it, and in an information environment completely enshittified by right wing techno fascists and Nazis.
When I first started bulding Linux systems with integrated anti-censorship and anti-surveillance tools, there were actually platforms and news sources worthy of the effort. I could enter a censored environment, easily break out, and have no limits on my access to social media platforms, news sites, or other gathering places.
Now, in the spring of 2026, the platforms themselves are the problems. Social media platforms, search engines, and news sites are all closing off to usage by people connecting through anonymity or censorship circumvention tools. Worse, the escape from one disinformaion-infested environment merely leads to the arrival in another one. Yesterday, I literally found both NPR and the BBC repeating far-right lies told by a head of state. On top of that, Linux distributions are caving to government pressure against anonymity on the internet. How often do I need to repeat that some things are no one else's business (NOYFB)?
As many distributions as there are, Linux is still too centralised. As with Microsoft, Apple, and Google, governments can take aim at distributions, or individual maintainers, then pressure them to install backdoors or surveillance. Operating system age verification is exactly that. Don't ever be dismissive about it; age verification is an opener into further intrusions. You may call it governance; I call it a game of "just the tip." Once you accept the tip, you become a player, sooner or later to take the whole length and girth.
The well-being of kids is just a pretext! Otherwise, something would have been done long ago to curb gun deaths of children. Or hunger. Or abuse. The real issues in contention are anonymity and governability of computer users. As Bruce Lee once said, "Be like water."
Fuck all of the KYC being implemented against internet users. I will not use any Linux which obstructs my anonymity or freedom of use, nor will I ask you to use a compromised operating system. I will burn it all down before giving in. Rather than risk fines and prosecution from multiple formerly free countries, I am freezing MOFO Linux on SourceForge at its most recent release.
Bear in mind that recent MOFO Linux releases contain the Linux-Respinner scripts with which enable you, if you desire, to unpack the iso images, chroot into the filesystems, and do your own modifications. You can update to current Debian software packages and rebuild the iso images and continue using them.
I have a better suggestion: abandon conventional Linux and start using image-based distributions, such as Bluefin, Bazzite, Vanilla OS, or Nitrux. Install Tor, I2P, and Sshuttle, then whatever apps you prefer, for whatever purpose. You can do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, with Flatpaks, AppImages, and Docker containers.
In closing, let me say this: Linux needs to decentralize more if it is to remain free as in freedom. Governments are putting on pressure, down to the level of people who share distros, respins, apps, and users. Linux needs to be like water, my friends. You and I need to be like water too, or we are all done.
Thank you for riding along on this trip. Good luck and hang tough.
Cheers, Philip Collier / MOFO Linux
