I Spoke To The Dev Behind The Systemd Birth Date Change
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Today I spoke with the developer who introduced the PR to Systemd which added in a birth date field to userdb which spawned a massive drama and much worse as...

Some of you need to watch this video, and hang your head in shame.

Dylan Taylor has been receiving constant harassment, including threats to his life and safety, for actions done collectively by SystemD. The article by Sam Bent was explictly mentioned as part of the harassment campaign, and rightfully so.

I don’t think enough people realize that this is catastrophically bad. It’ll discourage people from becoming open source developers, it’ll discourage people from using Linux, and it’ll discourage legislators from taking the Linux community seriously.

If you ever wished ill upon another human being for complying with a relatively inconsequential law, you are better off never touching a computer again. The Linux community has collectively gone so far beyond what is acceptable here.

  • ExoticCherryPigeon@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    7 hours ago

    In this hypothetical situation, why are you choosing to install software that does this?

    Its not a hypothetical situation, it is happening, although right now to mobile phones and tablets if we stick with Russia example. Il let you envision what direction this is going to. But hey its a law. There are linux tablets out there, should maybe they add this pre-installed app?

    https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/08/russia-orders-pre-installed-app-on-all-domestic-mobile-phones-and-tablets/

    By the way that law is there since 2025. Its pretty obvious that we should pre-emptively comply?

    If you don’t want software that tracks your location, don’t install software that tracks your location. If you don’t want software that requires your real name, then don’t install software that requires your real name.

    That is my plan when we know the position of other distributions, I will be moving to one that does not use systemd. My argument with this is that the reasons for this change are clearly to comply with local laws that don’t affect majority of the system users. There is no need in this change to be global. It should not exist.

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 hours ago

      Its not a hypothetical situation, it is happening, although right now to mobile phones and tablets if we stick with Russia example. Il let you envision what direction this is going to. But hey its a law. There are linux tablets out there, should maybe they add this pre-installed app?

      You haven’t shown how this would be prevented if systemd didn’t store birthDate.

      You, and I, are no more affected by this field than we have been affected by the realName or location fields which have existed for decades. The field doesn’t do anything unless you choose to run software that uses it.

      If you’re going to swap init systems because of this change then you understand my point about choice. If you think this field is bad, you can choose to not install systemd. If you use systemd and think the field is bad you can choose to not install software that uses the field.

      I think the age verification laws are pointless and damaging, but systemd isn’t the battleground to fight that battle and, most importantly, people who are engaged in a harassment campaign against this developer are completely in the wrong.