Systemd Offers Optional Age Verification

systemd, the init system and service manager used by most major Linux distributions, has added a new birthDate field to the user records in the database in response to new age verification laws around the world, It's FOSS reports.

In recent weeks, a number of countries and US states have passed or proposed age verification laws that would require verification to be done at the operating system level rather than by apps, websites, or app stores. The laws are riddled with contradictions and obvious tech illiteracy, such as defining "operating system" so broadly that it could include nearly anything with a microchip and offering loopholes big enough to send a US Navy carrier through.

systemd is already highly-controversial, and many Linux distros that avoid it are flagrantly proud of this fact. Complying with these laws will probably not help their image.

Regardless, systemd insists that this field is entirely optional and privacy-respecting, functioning entirely locally. The developer says that the feature is designed to create a standardized, privacy-respecting compliance method for other projects who do wish to take advantage of it. (This goes back to one of the aforementioned loopholes: many of the laws don't specify how age needs to be verified, so something as simple as an un-verified "date of birth" field containing any random date legally qualifies in many cases.)

Despite these clarifications, there are many who feel that any form of compliance is surrender and that we need to push back on these laws in any form, no matter how toothless and ineffective they may be. Indeed, compliance may embolden lawmakers who may tighten up the laws in the future to be worse for privacy and harder to avoid.

It's FOSS notes that there's already a fork of systemd with all mentions of the birthDate field removed, but it's already fallen several commits behind and probably shouldn't be used in production. Maybe it can at least spark further conversation.