Eric Schultz1d ago

A small set of people are merging changes to various Linux components to make sure every application knows your birth date.

This is being done rapidly by people with questionable justifications and being merged with no youth and few marginalized people involved.

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/accountsservice/accountsservice/-/merge_requests/176#0b07c0cc4d49be119f65cdb2037440f56eed647a

user: Add BirthDate with polkit-gated GetBirthDate and SetBirthDate methods (!176) · Merge requests · accountsservice / accountsservice · GitLab

Summary Add a BirthDate field to the user account interface. For non-homed users, the value is stored...

GitLab
Show threadk3ym𖺀1d ago
@wwahammy wtf… these are current maintainers???
Show threadEric Schultz1d ago
@k3ym0 some are. systemd already merged a corresponding change from the same contributor.
Show threadk3ym𖺀1d ago
@wwahammy can’t we fork it prior to that commit and maintain a separate fork?
Show threadEric Schultz1d ago

@k3ym0 could it be done theoretically? Sure. But on systemd, that'd be a huge task to maintain. And the systemd folks say "oh, this PR is just an optional part of the user account system, we're just making a common API for anyone who wants to add it for any reason".

They build the tracks and plead innocence as to what is in the trains.

Show threadYrrsinn1d ago

@wwahammy @k3ym0

I found this a good write-up https://www.sambent.com/the-engineer-who-tried-to-put-age-verification-into-linux-5/

The Engineer Who Tried to Put Age Verification Into Linux

Dylan, useful idiot with commit access, pushed age verification PRs to systemd, Ubuntu & Arch, got 2 Microslop employees to merge it, called it 'hilariously pointless' in the PR itself, then watched Lennart personally block the revert. Unpaid compliance simp.

Sam Bent
Show threadMateusz 🏳️‍🌈

@yrrsinn Don’t blame the guy. He’s a victim of surveillance capitalism as we are, except that he was just given the role of the bad guy.

@wwahammy @k3ym0

Mar 21 at 9:00amWeb
Show threadKat S21h ago
@aemstuz @yrrsinn @wwahammy @k3ym0 He volunteered for the role of bad guy, so yes, we're blaming him.
Show threadTwo? foxes in a trench coat18h ago
@aemstuz @yrrsinn @wwahammy @k3ym0 This person voluntarily and enthusiastically complies in advance, he wasn't "given a role" or wasn't forced in any way to make such changes. This world surely would have been a better place if the people wouldn't do that...