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Birthdate field under discussion also in Arch Linux (github.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by pglpm@lemmy.ca to c/linux@programming.dev

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Add a required birth date prompt (YYYY-MM-DD) to the user creation flow, stored as a systemd userdb JSON drop-in at /etc/userdb/.user on the target system.

Motivation

Recent age verification laws in California (AB-1043), Colorado (SB26-051), Brazil (Lei 15.211/2025), etc. require platforms to verify user age. Collecting birth date at install time ensures Arch Linux is compliant with these regulations.

This is just a pull request, no changes yet.

The pull-request discussion thread has been locked, just like it happened for the similar thread in Systemd, owing to the amount of negative comments...

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[–] Avicenna@programming.dev 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The timing makes me even more suspicious. Of all the times one could added this field, this is probably singularly the worst one. Right after discussions of mandatory age check? Seriously?

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

You don't need to be suspicious, they're explicitly adding it because of that. They said as much. Look at what they wrote under "Motivation."

[–] Avicenna@programming.dev 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

I sort of get the feeling of something more than just complying with the possible future age verification law. I feel like it has intent do damage and distrupt the community.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 10 hours ago

I feel this law has the intent to damage and disrupt things in general, yes. Parental controls have existed for ages but lawmakers don't seem interested in them. For example, all the porn bans, rather than forcing sites to use some sort of self tagging system that parental controls could easily see (like some response header) they just want them to take IDs. All of it is a push to forcing people to always be online transparently with their real identity well known.