: Flatpak may be next, and the lobbying behind it is raising eyebrows

Just what I want in my distro.

After weeks of debate, code to record user age was finally merged into the Linux world’s favorite system management daemon.

Pull request #40954 to the systemd project is titled “userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records.” It’s a new function for the existing userdb service, which adds a field to hold the user’s date of birth:

Stores the user’s birth date for age verification, as required by recent laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc.

The contents of the field will be protected from modification except by users with root privileges.

The change comes after the recent release of systemd 260 but unless it is reverted for some reason, it will be part of systemd 261. One of the justifications is to facilitate the new parental controls in Flatpak, which are still in the draft stage.

  • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
    3·
    2 hours ago

    The big deal is that it’s on the heels of age verification bullshit that fascists are pushing through with the help of tech bros, so that they can eventually push all of us into a scenario where we have zero privacy.

    That’s a bit difficult to argue in a world where the most prominent of such laws was passed in California, where Democrats control the entire legislative process.

    I have not looked up the voting record for it, but would suspect that, like most of the worst laws in the US, it was enthusiastically supported by both parties? Am I wrong about that?

    • LukeZaz@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      40 minutes ago

      passed in California, where Democrats control the entire legislative process.

      I think that’s the “with the help of tech bros” part. Rather high population of those in California, and boy do they have lobbying money.