[NTLUG:Discuss] [Discuss] age verification in systemd

[Cornelius Keck]

Quick search brings up this one:

https://github.com/jeffrey-sardina/systemd

I'm sure there's more, and should be easy to find using whichever search 
engine one sets as a default.

Heck, in this case even the Awkwardly Inebriated summaries are almost 
usable.

Anybody feel like presenting this in talks?

On 2026-03-24 13:50, Leroy Tennison wrote:
> OK, can you find/provide details about that fork and how to implement it?
> 
> On Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 12:20:55 PM CDT, Cornelius Keck via 
> Discuss <discuss at dfwuug.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Isn't that the Microslime-affiliated dude who came up with that piece of
> useless unwanted junk to begin with?
> 
> Why am I not surprised. Have to dig this up, but IIRC I've seen a FB
> post where somebody forked that junk to remove that "feature".
> 
> This is what one gets if one lets induhvidials with little technical
> understanding pass laws with dumb excuses.
> 
> On 2026-03-23 17:09, stuart yarus wrote:
>  > Hi,
>  >
>  >>From distrowatch dot com / weekly.php?issue=20260323#news:
>  >
>  > "Last week we talked about age verification laws
>  > <https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20260316#qa <https:// 
> distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20260316#qa>>, what they are and
>  > the issues surrounding these surveillance efforts. This week a new age
>  > tracking feature was added to systemd
>  > <https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 <https://github.com/ 
> systemd/systemd/pull/40954>>: "[This change] 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 xdg-desktop-portal project is adding an age verification portal
>  > <https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/pull/1922 <https:// 
> github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/pull/1922>> that needs a data
>  > source for the user's age. userdb already stores personal metadata
>  > (emailAddress, realName, location) so birthDate is a natural fit." The
>  > birthdate field can be set by the administrator only, but can be read by
>  > the user and the user's applications. "
>  >
>  > "Update: Following strong feedback from the community, an attempt was 
> made
>  > to revert the change <https://distrowatch.com/ <https:// 
> distrowatch.com/><a href=>. The attempted
>  > reversal of the change includes a comment: "Introducing birth date 
> storage
>  > or age queries (even local-only) creates a new class of sensitive 
> user data
>  > in the OS that didn't exist before. It risks normalizing permission-like
>  > checks inside the desktop session and could be extended to far more
>  > invasive controls in the future." The reversal was denied by project 
> leader
>  > Pottering, who insists the tracking feature will remain. "
>  >
>  >
> 
> -- 
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at dfwuug.org <mailto:Discuss at dfwuug.org>
> https://www.dfwuug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss <https:// 
> www.dfwuug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss>