“Verify” is a strong word, if the age in there isn’t actually verified. If I say my realName is Nunya Bissnis, my location is Atlantis and my birthDate is 1970-01-01, who’s going to check if that’s at all accurate?
Maybe there should be a way to randomise it. Maybe there could be a script to automatically update my DoB entry to “Today - 18 years” every day. Or maybe there are some default values we could use that make it hard to track, like John Doe, 1970-01-01.
Or maybe we just don’t enforce entering anything. Given it’s not a thing in every jurisdiction, there needs to be a toggle to activate sharing it anyway. Be a shame if people found a way to trick the system.
Though the proposed Flatpak change works by responding to age brackets rather than specific dates. That would also obscure it a little, but be enough for parental controls. Whether those are reasonable is a different discussion I don’t feel like having at the moment.
Again, you’re right that it would help narrow it down, which might make it an arms race akin to security, where we’d have to keep finding ways to mess with the tracking, but there are more implementation layers that I imagine will be harder to enforce.
I also agree that it’s iffy, just as the realName and location fields, but it’s not quite as bad as all the newly-minted systemd haters make it out to be. If you’re an OG hater looking for more reasons, sure, be my guest.
“Verify” is a strong word, if the age in there isn’t actually verified. If I say my realName is Nunya Bissnis, my location is Atlantis and my birthDate is 1970-01-01, who’s going to check if that’s at all accurate?
It’s really a declaration, or an assertion.
Doesn’t matter if it’s accurate. Now they have more unique data points to help track your digital footprint.
Good point.
Maybe there should be a way to randomise it. Maybe there could be a script to automatically update my DoB entry to “Today - 18 years” every day. Or maybe there are some default values we could use that make it hard to track, like John Doe, 1970-01-01.
Or maybe we just don’t enforce entering anything. Given it’s not a thing in every jurisdiction, there needs to be a toggle to activate sharing it anyway. Be a shame if people found a way to trick the system.
Though the proposed Flatpak change works by responding to age brackets rather than specific dates. That would also obscure it a little, but be enough for parental controls. Whether those are reasonable is a different discussion I don’t feel like having at the moment.
Again, you’re right that it would help narrow it down, which might make it an arms race akin to security, where we’d have to keep finding ways to mess with the tracking, but there are more implementation layers that I imagine will be harder to enforce.
I also agree that it’s iffy, just as the realName and location fields, but it’s not quite as bad as all the newly-minted systemd haters make it out to be. If you’re an OG hater looking for more reasons, sure, be my guest.