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The Engineer Who Tried to Put Age Verification Into Linux
(www.sambent.com)
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this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
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Your real name and location data have been stored in UNIX/Linux for over 60 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecos_field
realName and location have been fields in systemd since the beginning.
Were you panicking about this before social media told you to be afraid?
IF you entered that info. And it wasn't being used by applications to enable surveillance laws. It's a false equivalency.
The birthDate field is optional. As userdb as a whole.
It's like talking to a wall with these people.
What do you mean with "these people"?
All I say is that no one forces you to enter a value in an optional part oft the systemd project (not to be confused with systemd, the init process).
By "these people", I mean people who just don't get it.
You fail to make your point and when someone points out the failure of rationality, you just say 'you just don't get it'.
I think maybe 'you just don't get' how to support your position.
Maybe I'm just frustrated with the discussion. Plenty of other people have explained the position very eloquently, but it still falls on deaf ears.
I'm completely with you on age verification. It's pointless and harmful.
I'm not with anyone who supports a harassment campaign on a developer.
Age verification isn't optional (at least in the jurisdictions in question, and for now).