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Birthdate field under discussion also in Arch Linux (github.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by pglpm@lemmy.ca to c/linux@programming.dev

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Add a required birth date prompt (YYYY-MM-DD) to the user creation flow, stored as a systemd userdb JSON drop-in at /etc/userdb/.user on the target system.

Motivation

Recent age verification laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc. require platforms to verify user age. Collecting birth date at install time ensures Arch Linux is compliant with these regulations.

This is just a pull request, no changes yet.

The pull-request discussion thread has been locked, just like it happened for the similar thread in Systemd, owing to the amount of negative comments...

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[–] Solumbran@lemmy.world 56 points 1 week ago (35 children)

I don't know what people expect.

All big linux distros are going to be quickly a target, because the people who like age verification laws like that hate the idea of free software.

Putting a dummy, useless age input, is a good way to comply maliciously, and can be easily reverted if these stupid laws ever get removed.

It wouldn't surprise me if obvious ways to bypass it appear a few seconds after the changes are validated.

The alternative is that these systems could be outawed in a lot of places, which would have a much more negative impact than an age field.

War is about knowing to take a hit to avoid defeat, sometimes.

[–] StealthLizardDrop@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This law affects so few people in the world, they can bugger off with their changes. No one on my entire content is affected by this stupidity.

[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This law affects so few people in the world

It's not just one law (/statute).

Around a third of a billion and increasing, seems a strange quantity to dismiss as "so few people in the world".

No one on my entire content is affected by this stupidity.

Continent?

How long will that last?

[–] StealthLizardDrop@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago

Continent Thank you yes

It’s not just one law (/statute). Around a third of a billion and increasing, seems a strange quantity to dismiss as “so few people in the world”. EU alone has more population than the affected regions by a few hundred million. Why should we be putting up with this nonsense in advance? This is absolutely wrong and how does this get affected by our GDPR laws? Please don't forget that not everyone lives in a complete technocratic dystopia and we place more value on certain protections. Trying to predict when the next ludicrous right wing nonces will win and try to put through their own child molesting agendas in EU seems premature.

How long until USA becomes the new Noth Korea where you can only get 28 state sanctioned haircuts? Should we comply with this requirement too? You know its only a matter of time isn't it? (If sarcasm is not clear, I apologise for nothing)

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