It’s a good reminder that a lot of Linux Enthusiasts are very quick to bandwagon.
SystemD already has (optional!) fields to store user data, proactively adding a birthdate field as multiple jurisdictions are working to pass age verification/restriction laws and the clear best (or more accurately, least worst) technical path to cleanly doing so is to store the user’s age in the OS to pass to the application, it’s a very sane move.
Developers and maintainers don’t exist in a vacuum. Corporate Linux maintainers need to ensure that their product is legally compliant. SystemD, is developed and maintained by RedHat, a subsidiary of IBM. They would be silly not to be proactive in the face of a clear legislative trend to ensure their product remains legally compliant.
It’s the same thing any professional has to do when they work in a regulated industry (which IBM operates in many regulated industries, from finance to banking to military contracting, they have a ton of industry regulations to try to meet), keep an ear to the ground for any likely upcoming new legal requirements and proactively meet those potential new requirements so instead of scrambling at the 11th hour you can focus on other things.
Folks blowing up on this should be focusing their efforts on their legislators, not on hardworking devs who are just trying to make a living
It’s a good reminder that a lot of Linux Enthusiasts are very quick to bandwagon.
SystemD already has (optional!) fields to store user data, proactively adding a birthdate field as multiple jurisdictions are working to pass age verification/restriction laws and the clear best (or more accurately, least worst) technical path to cleanly doing so is to store the user’s age in the OS to pass to the application, it’s a very sane move.
Developers and maintainers don’t exist in a vacuum. Corporate Linux maintainers need to ensure that their product is legally compliant. SystemD, is developed and maintained by RedHat, a subsidiary of IBM. They would be silly not to be proactive in the face of a clear legislative trend to ensure their product remains legally compliant.
It’s the same thing any professional has to do when they work in a regulated industry (which IBM operates in many regulated industries, from finance to banking to military contracting, they have a ton of industry regulations to try to meet), keep an ear to the ground for any likely upcoming new legal requirements and proactively meet those potential new requirements so instead of scrambling at the 11th hour you can focus on other things.
Folks blowing up on this should be focusing their efforts on their legislators, not on hardworking devs who are just trying to make a living
I’ve talked about why we all should be voting on Lemmy and its a bridge too far. Particularly the ml crew.