Yep, the email they sent out is terribly worded so it looks like the age requirement is for Zed itself.
Their actual blog ( https://zed.dev/blog/terms-update ) says the age requirement is only for their AI service (still not the best wording but a little clearer):
> Age requirement. You must be 18 or older to use Zed’s AI-enabled software-as-a-service offering (the “Service").
A kid coder I know can't use free Google Gemini because his Windows laptop has parental controls turned on and his accurate age is associated with his Google account.
I use Zed, but not the AI bits of it. Works really well as a plain code editor. I hope they remember there are folks like me who just want a better code editor than the miserable shite that is VSCode, without all the LLM stuff in it.
Not that I have a problem with the LLM stuff, I just use the LLM in a shell and then use Zed to fix the problems in the output.
> Our email yesterday was imprecise relative to our actual new Terms. To be specific:
> You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service (Zed’s AI-enabled software-as-a-service offering, including features like account creation/sign in, Zed Free and Zed Pro, and collaboration). See https://zed.dev/terms#21-eligibility. We set the threshold at 18 due to children's data privacy obligations under COPPA, equivalent international frameworks, and an increasing number of state and regional laws that extend protections to anyone under 18. Those regulations require parental consent verification, age-gated data handling, and separate retention policies for minors. Building and maintaining that infrastructure is a real cost for a small team, and getting it wrong carries regulatory risk. Setting the line at 18 lets us maintain a single privacy framework for all account holders without carve-outs.
> Zed's Software (open source code editing software) is governed by our open source licenses. In cases where the open source license can govern, it will over the Terms. See https://zed.dev/terms#24-restrictions.
I mostly agree with you, mostly because I don't like being tracked, and I don't like the surveillance state.
But, I mean, kids probably shouldn't be looking at porn. Arguably no one should be viewing porn but it's probably especially bad for young, developing minds to be watching that kind of stuff, and if we agree that kids shouldn't be watching porn then maybe we should be doing a cursory effort to make it so they're not?
It's easy to say "no it's the parents' responsibility", but let's be honest with ourselves. My parents tried child blocks for me so that I won't look at unsavory websites when I was thirteen, and those worked for about twenty minutes until I figured out how to get around them, and eventually reformatted my hard drive with OpenSUSE so my parents wouldn't be able to try again. Kids find a way.
So I dunno, maybe things should be on the provider sometimes?
Yeah the world is not going to end if some teenage boys get to see some naked breasts. All this effort could be invested into providing decent sexual education to teenagers instead.
The world isn't going to end if a teenage boy sees a booby, but I think that it can distort a teenager's view on sex and sexuality. I think that part of the disturbing woman-hating incel "movement" might be, at least in part, a result of a lot of very stupid guys seeing distorted views sex and seeing a lot of media where objectifying women is rewarded. [1]
Also, porn nowadays isn't just a woman showing a titty; if you go on PornHub or something, it is all pretty hardcore now.
I agree that good sex education is ideal, but I still think that we probably shouldn't be allowing kids to watch porn.
[1] Also, who actually pays for the pizza???? I mean, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Pizza should count as lunch, or at least dinner. Are all these horny housewives ordering pizzas with no way to pay for it making the prices of my pizza go up?
If I’m reading this correctly, the 18+ part is for the paid AI service, not the editor itself.
Yep, the email they sent out is terribly worded so it looks like the age requirement is for Zed itself.
Their actual blog ( https://zed.dev/blog/terms-update ) says the age requirement is only for their AI service (still not the best wording but a little clearer):
> Age requirement. You must be 18 or older to use Zed’s AI-enabled software-as-a-service offering (the “Service").
Time for kids to learn vim.
Let's start a list of learning references
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11828270/how-do-i-exit-v...
I learned to use ed as a kid. I was highly motivated — this was the in-game editor for MudOS/Nightmare.
I am just as likely to get the kids on Pharo or Squeak (the old school stuff, not the newer Python based Squeak)
Fear not, Zed has vim mode!
A kid coder I know can't use free Google Gemini because his Windows laptop has parental controls turned on and his accurate age is associated with his Google account.
I use Zed, but not the AI bits of it. Works really well as a plain code editor. I hope they remember there are folks like me who just want a better code editor than the miserable shite that is VSCode, without all the LLM stuff in it.
Not that I have a problem with the LLM stuff, I just use the LLM in a shell and then use Zed to fix the problems in the output.
You might like this then https://gram.liten.app/
Bill gates made more than a years salary programming his first priejct in grade school
They sent a clarifying email today
> Our email yesterday was imprecise relative to our actual new Terms. To be specific:
> You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service (Zed’s AI-enabled software-as-a-service offering, including features like account creation/sign in, Zed Free and Zed Pro, and collaboration). See https://zed.dev/terms#21-eligibility. We set the threshold at 18 due to children's data privacy obligations under COPPA, equivalent international frameworks, and an increasing number of state and regional laws that extend protections to anyone under 18. Those regulations require parental consent verification, age-gated data handling, and separate retention policies for minors. Building and maintaining that infrastructure is a real cost for a small team, and getting it wrong carries regulatory risk. Setting the line at 18 lets us maintain a single privacy framework for all account holders without carve-outs.
> Zed's Software (open source code editing software) is governed by our open source licenses. In cases where the open source license can govern, it will over the Terms. See https://zed.dev/terms#24-restrictions.
Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47240158
This entire effort at “age verification” needs to die in a fire.
I dunno.
I mostly agree with you, mostly because I don't like being tracked, and I don't like the surveillance state.
But, I mean, kids probably shouldn't be looking at porn. Arguably no one should be viewing porn but it's probably especially bad for young, developing minds to be watching that kind of stuff, and if we agree that kids shouldn't be watching porn then maybe we should be doing a cursory effort to make it so they're not?
It's easy to say "no it's the parents' responsibility", but let's be honest with ourselves. My parents tried child blocks for me so that I won't look at unsavory websites when I was thirteen, and those worked for about twenty minutes until I figured out how to get around them, and eventually reformatted my hard drive with OpenSUSE so my parents wouldn't be able to try again. Kids find a way.
So I dunno, maybe things should be on the provider sometimes?
Yeah the world is not going to end if some teenage boys get to see some naked breasts. All this effort could be invested into providing decent sexual education to teenagers instead.
The world isn't going to end if a teenage boy sees a booby, but I think that it can distort a teenager's view on sex and sexuality. I think that part of the disturbing woman-hating incel "movement" might be, at least in part, a result of a lot of very stupid guys seeing distorted views sex and seeing a lot of media where objectifying women is rewarded. [1]
Also, porn nowadays isn't just a woman showing a titty; if you go on PornHub or something, it is all pretty hardcore now.
I agree that good sex education is ideal, but I still think that we probably shouldn't be allowing kids to watch porn.
[1] Also, who actually pays for the pizza???? I mean, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Pizza should count as lunch, or at least dinner. Are all these horny housewives ordering pizzas with no way to pay for it making the prices of my pizza go up?
Keep the data protection laws, remove the max age cut off. I want data protection too! No need to verify age.
Amen.
But won't anyone think of the little children?!? The US president and his close friends sure do. /s
Headline soon:
You must be 18+ years old to use a Raspberry Pi.
Time to short Raspberry Pi stock then.