Mastodawn

JackTLadd 1d ago

systemd-censord.

*Slow clap*

From: FloofyWolf
Recently, a proposal has been made to implement an API for a new California censorship regulation, "On the unfortunate need for an "age verification" API for legal compliance reasons in some U.S. states" by Aaron Rainbolt. I believe the approach outlined to be very short-sighted, in that creating a bespoke API for each of the hundreds of government censorship requirements that debian will presumably now be following...
https://jwz.org/b/yk41

@jwz its fucking sad that folks jump so quickly to comply with this shit, when the more metal approach is to say 'fuckit, we're gonna run a rebel os'. ratmOS even.

id rock ratmOS. im sure it would ditch systemd

@jwz shit i bet we could get reznors art folks to do all the logos and design for it

Not a Spring Onion 1d ago

root@Geji-nee:~$ apt install systemd
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed and 0 to remove.

@wakame @jwz exactly :D

maaneeack 1d ago

@Viss @wakame @jwz Name it RaaOS, Rage against authoritarians. Said like Ras al'Ghouls' name.

Chan Secodina 1d ago

@jwz I want to fork and maintain a Linux distro approximately as much as I want to learn how to do my own dentistry at home using only supplies I can find in my junk drawer, and yet *here we are.* I'm going to hold out hope for now that Debian does the right thing here and rejects censorship (as it has done for the last 27 years I've been using it).

Regendans 1d ago

@chansecodina @jwz No need to maintain a new fork. Devuan is a Debian soft fork without systemd since about 2016. https://www.devuan.org

Welcome to devuan.org | Devuan GNU+Linux Free Operating System

Free GNU+Linux base OS. Devuan is a fork of Debian without systemd. Devuan provides a safe upgrade path from Debian, to ensure the right to Init Freedom and avoid entanglement.

Devuan GNU+Linux

@jwz please tell me this is a parody

please tell me this is a fucking parody

please be a parody and not fucking real

@jwz OH MY GOD IT'S A SUMMARY OF A REAL FUCKING MAIL

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2026-March/043533.html

On the need for a censorship API for legal compliance reasons in some countries and U.S. states

Bryan Davis 1d ago

@reiddragon I’m pretty sure the “Thanks for reading, and I hope we can work together to help Linux
implement as much censorship as possible!” is a sarcasm indicator.

@bd808 Honestly, the more it reads like something that The Onion would've written 5 years ago, the less convinced I am it's a parody

Daniel Kochmański 1d ago

@reiddragon @bd808 it is

Reiner Jung 🇬🇱 🇺🇦 🇪🇺1d ago

@jwz well I can understand why they implement it. However, I would prefer whether it is an optional thing so I do not need to fork the shit for sane countries.

Salem's Lot 1d ago

@jwz now that i finally was comfortable with #ubuntu this means i gotta switch and get rid of it as it is #debian based. What a shitshow. All that work migrating away from snoopy ms windows just to get to the same result.

Nik | Klampfradler 🎸🚲1d ago

@SalemsLot @jwz Hahahaha. Seriously? You decided to use a distribution made by Big Tech containing tons of anti-freedom software (including Snap, based 100% on Canonical's commercial, proprietary, corporate-controlled, monolithic "app store"), and now you want to get rid of it because its upstream added an optional field to a JSON file 🤣😂🤦🤦🤦.

Ooooh, this world is such a circus.

#Linux #systemd #ageverification

Salem's Lot 1d ago

@nik @jwz Thanks for your condescending and arrogant lecture, that way i can block you faster.

@SalemsLot @nik @jwz Relax a bit, this is a proposal to a upcoming problem that all Linux distros has to solve. If they can’t even propose solutions among themselves, without everyone getting mad, then they have to keep all communication hidden in the future.

@iobear @SalemsLot @nik No, they do not have to "solve" it by which you apparently mean "capitulate to fascists".

"Get fucked, you surveilling fucks" is the only appropriate and acceptable response.

Patrick Georgi 1d ago

@SalemsLot Wait and see: First, this looks like satire on the systemd proposal. Second, Ubuntu is based on Debian but it deviates where it wants (although I wouldn't hold my breath that they'd take a principled stand on this issue). Third, if all this comes to pass (and such crap isn't optional to begin with), there will be third-party repos with override packages soon enough.

Even with systemd I wonder if that's really a standard component that they kinda-sorta expect nobody to install. But the operating system provider can check the "we have age verification" box, and what the system's admin does isn't their business anymore.

@jwz Surely this is a parody? This seems ... very strange.

Bruce Elrick 1d ago

@jwz
Now THAT'S a modest proposal!

BoredomFestival 1d ago

@jwz he forgot to add the bit about how the poor should sell their children as food to the wealthy

Matthew Exon 1d ago

@jwz I kinda unironically wanna see something like this tried. In much the same way that zonedb is performance art.

@jwz the fuck?

I've read the first few posts in the original Ubuntu thread.

Am I mad? Or are they?
In the first few everyone just ponders how to actually do the censoring.
None asked the obvious question: ARE YOU BARKING MAD?

ABrockwell 1d ago

@jwz Given the ridiculously stupid things happening in the world now, I had this sinking feeling that it would be for real. But after reading FloofyWolf's full post, I'm fairly certain it is satirical.

(See https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2026/03/msg00018.html )

For me #Linux is the last bastion of computing freedom, now that MS and Apple appear to have become largely just #enshittified marketing/surveillance/fee-charging engines. I can certainly imagine a future where Linux (of all flavors) is under all-out assault from the tech-bros.

On the need for a censorship API for legal compliance reasons in some countries and U.S. states

Sam Stephens 1d ago

@aebrockwell @jwz unfortunately this is satire based on real life, systemd has really merged age verification https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954. This is just champion satire showing how absurd the logical endpoint of that action is.

userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records by dylanmtaylor · Pull Request #40954 · systemd/systemd

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 addi...

GitHub

ABrockwell 1d ago

@chopsstephens @jwz Argh. Depressing. Thanks for the extra info.

It's a bit like TheOnion (news) over the last few years - satire and reality are merging in a tragic statement of where reality is going.

GradientDescent 1d ago

@jwz for anyone wondering if this is satire, read the last few lines of the post in the link. It is absolutely dripping with sarcasm.

That's said there was a very real merge request for systemd to undo the damage they've already done by implementing age verification. That merge was recently denied (they're leaving age verification in).

https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/116268665868040856

@shredder7579 No, there was a very real merge request for systemd to implement age verification that was *approved*. The patch to *remove* it was summarily denied by Lennart Poettering. https://agelesslinux.org/distros.html

Ageless Linux — Distro Compliance Tracker

GradientDescent 1d ago

@jwz Yes. It's still in systemd. Absolutely wild stuff

Hurgotron ✔19h ago

@shredder7579 @jwz And if someone wonders why... https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rzykul/the_systemd_age_verification_isnt_about/

Eggs now in different baskets.1d ago

@jwz Time to install the latest release of RISC OS on a Raspberry Pi. See what has changed and what is the same.

That "el" person on IRC 1d ago

@jwz aaaaahhh I can't tell if people are responding to the satire with sincerity

@jwz the fact that it took me (and looking at other replies, quite a few other people) quite some time to be sure this is satire is extremely depressing, I can't believe we're at a point where this looks believable even for a second... The email is very funny though and shows just how stupid this situation is

Ironbeagle 🇨🇦22h ago

@jwz excellent read. I especially love this part:

"a unit for Florida will ban all packages with “trans” in the name”

#SystemD #linux #Censorship