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Store birth date in systemd for age verification

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Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#121

Post by Svoka »

miohtama wrote: post #2

This should be the time for open-source developers to use their common sense to decide whether we should push back. If California wants to create its own Protect the children operating system, it should bear the cost and responsibility for this alone, and not export any of the sketchy political agenda to the wider open source community.

Did you consider that companies want to sell laptops/PC with Linux in California? This is open-source, you can modify software to align with your business goals, including complying to regulations. If you have something against regulations, take that with lawmakers, not businesses which actually trying to promote Linux.

Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#122

Post by hulitu »

Svoka wrote: post #121
miohtama wrote: post #2

This should be the time for open-source developers to use their common sense to decide whether we should push back. If California wants to create its own Protect the children operating system, it should bear the cost and responsibility for this alone, and not export any of the sketchy political agenda to the wider open source community.

Did you consider that companies want to sell laptops/PC with Linux in California? This is open-source, you can modify software to align with your business goals, including complying to regulations. If you have something against regulations, take that with lawmakers, not businesses which actually trying to promote Linux.

> This is open-source, you can modify software to align with your business goals, including complying to regulations

Just do it.

Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#124

Post by Svoka »

hulitu wrote: post #122
Svoka wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you consider that companies want to sell laptops/PC with Linux in California? This is open-source, you can modify software to align with your business goals, including complying to regulations. If you have something against regulations, take that with lawmakers, not businesses which actually trying to promote Linux.

> This is open-source, you can modify software to align with your business goals, including complying to regulations Just do it.

The news is literally about someone doing it.

Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#125

Post by shevy-java »

I just found this thread here about systemd, implementing age-sniffing - that is actually interesting, because the pull request on systemd is 3 weeks old right now (and not even the systemd developers upvoting on that pull request):

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

Today I realised that Poettering rejected reversion to the age sniffing done in systemd. That is also interesting - he operates like a Microsoft lobbyist.

Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#126

Post by KornClown7 »

bitwize wrote: post #20
miohtama wrote: post #2

This should be the time for open-source developers to use their common sense to decide whether we should push back. If California wants to create its own Protect the children operating system, it should bear the cost and responsibility for this alone, and not export any of the sketchy political agenda to the wider open source community.

It's the law. If you live in the United States, and a minor in California uses your OS that didn't check age, you could be liable for up to $2500 per occurrence. That can add up quickly if California schoolkids discover your OS does an end run around the law. When ruin is the alternative, compliance becomes non-negotiable.

7500$ per instances

Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#128

Post by te7447 »

wolvoleo wrote: post #79
lyu07282 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume all along that trusted computing is where this age verification stuff is planned to lead to eventually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Computing#Criticism

Trusted is such a misnomer. I would trust my computer a lot less if it would answer to them.

It's trusted in the sense that it lets the person with power (the root of trust) trust the hardware.

That person just isn't you.

It's a way to enforce power relations by making the hardware respect them. From this perspective, it's pretty evident how it degrades adversarial interoperability, which is about ignoring power relations to build your own system.

Re: Store birth date in systemd for age verification

#129

Post by ameixaseca »

bitwize wrote: post #76
ameixaseca wrote: post #75

From the pull request: > 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 Brazilian law does NOT require this. This is a misconception, and likely based on an understanding of California's law being extrapolated to the Brazilian law. They are almost complete opposites. The Brazilian law (Lei 15.211/2025) puts…

I'm not sure how you would translate sistemas operacionais de terminais which is covered by the law, but to me it reads "terminal operating systems". If a terminal has its own OS, it is probably not "dumb" in any meaningful sense, and no one really uses terminals anyway except for retro enthusiasts. Even people still using, like, VM/MVS on a mainframe are connecting via a PC running a 3270 emulator. Lei № 12.965 (201…

Yes, you are correct. It was meant as "end user OSs", and indeed some requirements are on the end user OS.

However, it is still not the same as California's law since it only describes the provision of "age bracket" and only on particular circumstances. In practice, this requirement will likely be limited to certain platforms due to technical feasibility. Proportionality and "technically secure measurements" are mentioned in the law, so there is no point requiring this from a desktop computer where someone can just type any birth year.

It is likely most of the responsibility will fall on digital platforms:

https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2026/03/27/eca-digital-entra...

https://www.fadc.org.br/noticias/eca-digital-entenda-nova-le...

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