this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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My line in the sand is when a distro/app starts enforcing entry of birth date data. Having a database field to store it, or even an optional prompt for it isn't the point where I bin it.
This is the most sane take I’ve read in this entire debacle. Between arguing the semantics of attestation vs verification and whether we need five hundred forks and PRs, I’m glad to read this.
The biggest mistake the original PR did was not make it more clear it’s not directly because of the laws themselves, it’s to support higher level systems that may want to or need to comply. Systemd is no more complying with any present or future laws than a keyboard manufacturer is violating the law if the user uses it to type racially motivated hate speech.
I would but I've always been opposed to systemd anyway.
But for me it's a slippery slope I don't think we should even get on.
Yeah I hated systemd since before it was cool to hate systemd again.
I agree. But the start of the slope isn't my exit point. My exit point is just before the slope gets too steep to get off.
That’s the thing about slippery slopes. You don’t really know where the point you slip is.
I do. We're on it already. The whole system is slipping towards an age gated internet, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. That's the slope. There's nothing I can do to stop it, whether I'm I stay on or get off.
I don't believe that dropping my whole OS over a database field will change anything. It won't stop the devs who are concerned about their legal liability from being doing what they need to do to protect themselves. Some devs will comply, some will walk away from OSS, and some won't comply. But the bigger the project, the more corporate sponorship it relies on, the more certain it is going to be in the "comply" category, and the truth of that won't change because users push back.
Which is to say, I don't believe standing up and rejecting a DB field as a matter of principle will change anything, except to make my life harder.
My line in in the sand isn't about changing the course of the path we're on, it's about my own personal interactions with the system. And being forced to provide my age to interact with the internet is the bit I won't do. So I will stay with the inevitable creep towards that state until the last possible moment, in the hopes that somehow, I'm wrong, and we avoid this privacy nightmare we're heading towards. If and when it becomes impossible to interact without providing that data, then that's where I step off, even if it costs me half the internet.
I'm curious about GNU Shepard but still haven't gotten around to swapping. Does anyone have experiences to share?
Good distros will push default a dob of 1970-1-1, mark my fucking words.
That's still forcing a DOB, which is the line I won't cross.
When you make a new user using
adduserdo you leave your full name, number, and room number?Blank is blank, epoch is functionally the same as leaving it blank. Especially if it becomes industry standard.
They're not the same though. Your method will enable the system to interact meaningfully with an age gated internet. Blank will not. And I won't be interacting with an age gated internet...
That is a valid point. Of course it still would be rather anonymised, but it could always be a 'frog in the pot' type situation, where most drastic changes are introduced very slowly. My main concern at the end of the day is how much info will be required to be given to services and how much data will be actually stored. If it's anonymised, then I don't see much of a threat. If a service requires me to fully identify for an age check, that's an entirely different thing, especially considering the last of Discord's data leaks.