ExoticCherryPigeon

You do realise you can easily restrict who can run what applications (or terminal commands) by using guid? So you can easily restrict a child account being able to execute applications or games already? And you know what, this method does not rely on application developer implementing any kind of age gatekeeping using DOB field… Its generic to all distributions even ones that don’t use systemd. This is why this change is dumb and not needed.

You can even use it to restrict access to terminal commands such as curl so children cannot download something they shouldn’t…

In this hypothetical situation, why are you choosing to install software that does this?

Its not a hypothetical situation, it is happening, although right now to mobile phones and tablets if we stick with Russia example. Il let you envision what direction this is going to. But hey its a law. There are linux tablets out there, should maybe they add this pre-installed app?

https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/08/russia-orders-pre-installed-app-on-all-domestic-mobile-phones-and-tablets/

By the way that law is there since 2025. Its pretty obvious that we should pre-emptively comply?

If you don’t want software that tracks your location, don’t install software that tracks your location. If you don’t want software that requires your real name, then don’t install software that requires your real name.

That is my plan when we know the position of other distributions, I will be moving to one that does not use systemd. My argument with this is that the reasons for this change are clearly to comply with local laws that don’t affect majority of the system users. There is no need in this change to be global. It should not exist.

They DO have a linux native client though, and the whole idea of using systemd according to the PR author IS because application developers can then request this information from user profile

https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954

The xdg-desktop-portal project is adding an age verification portal
(flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal#1922) that needs a data source for the user’s age.
userdb already stores personal metadata (emailAddress, realName, location)
so birthDate is a natural fit.

So when application developer such as Discord (an example) builds on top of these age controls and decides to not allow access to channels which are marked 13+?

What do you expect will happen?

According to the guy doing birth date pr, we should pre-emptively comply, so yeah… how about enforcing bans on promotion of LGBT propaganda that has been law in Russia since 2013? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_in_Russia#National_laws

The law subjects Russian citizens found guilty to fines of up to 5,000 roubles and public officials to fines of up to 50,000 roubles.[citation needed] Organisations or businesses will be fined up to 1 million rubles and be forced to cease operations for up to 90 days. Foreigners may be arrested and detained for up to 15 days then deported, as well as fined up to 100,000 rubles. Russian citizens who have used the Internet or media to promote “non-traditional relations” will be fined up to 100,000 rubles.

Oh I know, lets introduce a field that stores an array of your nationalities, so any app developer can request your nationalities and adequately fine you for spreading illegal content online if you are Russian citizen. After all you can do that using a linux machine, so we gotta identify this now too. And the law also applies to foreigners. This law has been in place far longer than California or BR one. Who gets to pick and mix which laws apply and which don’t? But wait its okay its just an optional array, you don’t have to use it…

Do you now see how insanely dumb this is? I am neither in Russia or USA, why should I have to put up with a censoring mechanism?

Parental controls already exist in linux, they are entirely optional to those who want them, we do not need those controls to be rolled out to every user!

Not to mention

• My router, an Asus one has parental controls settings already
• My ISP router, bog standard one has parental controls settings already
• My ISP account has parental controls settings already at account level, if Ia m not technical enough, I can call them and ask them to set it up
• My phone provider has parental controls

It is slippery, I have described the process UK is taken here https://piefed.social/comment/10693725

There are already parental control packages exist in the Linux infrastructure which are not tied to low level modules such as systemd https://github.com/biglinux/big-parental-controls if you want, you can install it. Its fork is available in the Arch ecosystem for example that mentions it complies with the BR implementation (https://github.com/jersobh/arch-parental-controls)

• This is entirely optional package that claims to be privacy orientated (I haven’t tried it) that a system administrator can install if they wish.
• My router, an Asus one has parental controls settings already
• My ISP router, bog standard one has parental controls settings already
• My ISP account has parental controls settings already at account level, if Ia m not technical enough, I can call them and ask them to set it up
• My phone provider has parental controls

Why do I need MORE parental controls shoved down my throat when I do not desire it nor wish for it? But this time in a core component of alot of linux distributions.

Oh and before you tell me “but ExoticCherryPigeon, its an optional field”, sure, but here is the example of the slippery slope curtsey of UK:

Take a look at the history of this act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_age_verification_in_the_United_Kingdom
We are now at the point where I need to use a CC to tell some 3rd party that I want a wank.

And what else is happening now? They are suing websites not based in UK! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Act_2023#Enforcement, but that’s not all, although not at the law stage, there are some talks about also now restricting VPN’s https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/uk-government-says-it-may-age-restrict-or-limit-childrens-vpn-use-following-new-consultation.

A lot of websites also not based in UK jurisdiction have simply self censored UK users before they get ISP level blocked.

If this is not an example of a slippery slope, I don’t know what is!

TL;DR tools already exist, we do not need more tools that will be a privacy nightmare

How is it different? The ready acceptance of additional fields specifically for age verification is clearly proof enough that any further bullshit will be accepted just as quickly. PR description clearly outlines it is for the sole purpose of age verification…

Its not suitable for proving your age. Its adding a field which is a stepping stone to future gating and more control over something that isn’t even applicable to most of the users of the system.

Why not then add a live filter to ensure that you don’t call Putler’s war in Ukraine and call it “SVO” as you are supposed to? Its the law over there and many years older than this one. People already have gone to prison for not complying with it. But hey lets make that a part of linux too. Its law after all… Do you see how stupid it is to blindly comply to something that doesn’t even apply to you?

Poettering closed the pr that was reverting this age field. What happens is adding more and more control in the future to conform to whatever idiotic laws someone might make. Should we then also implement a filter for what you type online to conform with Russian law about calling their war “SVO”? Its their law after all, so why not make the rest of the world conform? Its already years older then this age verification?

Except this field has been implemented explicitly for this age verification laws. If this was for some random birthday greeting when you open terminal, i think fewer people would be up in arms. context is everything.

if this moron implements compliance with laws that record a birthday today, what is stopping him adding 3rd party verification of id tomorrow? So far his track record is corporate bootlicker. You cannot trust projects where this guy is a contributer to

Back when i was that young there was nothing to take a snap with, cameras back then had to develop film…

Not that we had a computer or internet at that time

But just think how much taxpayer’s funding can be redirected to private enterprises to further their owner’s American dreams of being billionaires, corruption is only corruption for the poor!