Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Aaron Toponce ⚛️:debian: (atoponce@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:44:39 JST Aaron Toponce ⚛️:debian:

   Systemd merged age verification to comply with California state law.

   If you want to enter a birth date, I recommend "Friday, 13 December 1901 20:45:52".

   I like this for a few reasons:

   1. This is the earliest date possible for a 32 bit datetime integer in C.
   2. It's malicious compliance.
   3. It's obviously faked.

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

   #linux

   • Embed this notice
     Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:44:36 JST Miakoda

     in reply to

     • Jordan Petridis
     • Travis E. Jones

     @atoponce @travisejones @alatiera "letting the user".
     Right there is the entire fucking problem. I bought the machine. I am the owner. There is no "let" in this situation. There is only "fuck you, computer does whatever the fuck I tell it to do!". Anyone sticking "let" in to my computer can go fuck all the way off!

   • Embed this notice
     Aaron Toponce ⚛️:debian: (atoponce@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:44:37 JST Aaron Toponce ⚛️:debian:

     in reply to

     • Jordan Petridis
     • Travis E. Jones

     @travisejones @alatiera It's likely in place so future software that requires a birthday from the system can retrieve it.

     For example, some mature video game with adult elements could ask systemd for the birthday before letting the user play the game.

     AFAIK, there are no hooks in place that verify that the supplied birth date matches their birth certificate, government issued ID, etc. So there's nothing stopping you from lying about your age to get around the video game rating.

     Miakoda repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Jordan Petridis (alatiera@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:44:38 JST Jordan Petridis

     in reply to

     @atoponce Being able to store the birthday of the user is useful metadata for the system to have in general. This is something that is needed to have regardless of any regulations. There are already other PII stored. Additionally there isn't any "Verification" mechanism in the PR you linked or proposed at all.

     Jesus Christ read before spreading further misinformation. You also clearly haven't read the California legislation you are so worried about.

   • Embed this notice
     Travis E. Jones (travisejones@c.im)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:44:38 JST Travis E. Jones

     in reply to

     • Jordan Petridis

     @alatiera @atoponce

     Honest question from a non-programmer (although I did learn BASIC in high school and Pascal in college), how would the age of the user be useful metadata for the operating system? The reason I ask is that I view the OS as serving my interests as a user, and I can't think of a way I would benefit from having my birthdate stored by systemd. Thanks!

   • Embed this notice
     Aaron Toponce ⚛️:debian: (atoponce@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:53:14 JST Aaron Toponce ⚛️:debian:

     in reply to

     • Jordan Petridis

     @alatiera Who said I haven't read the law or that I'm worried about it?

     I'm fully aware that the data is stored securely such that only root can read it. I'm also aware that there are no verification mechanisms currently implemented to validate the birthdate.

     Calm down.

   • Embed this notice
     Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 04:53:14 JST Miakoda

     in reply to

     • Jordan Petridis

     @atoponce @alatiera Fuck off with "calm down". "Calm down" is how horrid shit happens. "Calm down" is how "there's no verification" becomes "You need to show ID and allow the gov to see your history before purchasing a computer". MY computer does not need any information about me. It needs to do and run whatever I fucking tell it. *I* decide what info about me my computer has and needs.

   • Embed this notice
     Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 23:29:18 JST Miakoda

     in reply to

     • Jordan Petridis
     • 60sRefugee
     • Travis E. Jones

     @60sRefugee @atoponce @travisejones @alatiera BA HAHAHAHA! No. There's no ad display here. I don't run Windows.

   • Embed this notice
     60sRefugee (60srefugee@spacey.space)'s status on Friday, 20-Mar-2026 23:29:19 JST 60sRefugee

     in reply to

     • Miakoda
     • Jordan Petridis
     • Travis E. Jones

     @hellomiakoda @atoponce @travisejones @alatiera Your computer? You mean their ad display machine?