Will we have to choose between privacy-friendly Linux distros vs legal Linux distros? - Lemmy.ca

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/62278765 [https://lemmy.ca/post/62278765] > Software changes for compliance with age-verification laws are being pushed a bit everywhere in Linux-development > > - In Systemd [https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954], already merged. > > - On xdg.desktop.portal [https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/pull/1922] (a portal frontend service for Flatpak and other desktop containment frameworks), still open. > > - In Arch Linux [https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/pull/4290], still open. > > - On Freedesktop.org [https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/accountsservice/accountsservice/-/merge_requests/176], still open. > > It’s interesting that it’s the same small group of people behind these pull requests, and that discussion threads in them have been locked owing to a great amount of negative criticisms. > > They say “we have to comply with the law”. Which also means that if “the law” in the future will require proper verification, handling to 3rd-parties, or whatnot, then they will comply. > > Well, it’s their right to. They don’t owe anything to anyone, and are under no obligation to report to users or to the community, nor to pay heed to anybody’s wishes. > > If things proceed in this direction, we users may at some point have to choose between privacy-friendly Linux distributions or legal Linux distributions. People who, like me, are worried, need to start thinking about concrete actions to take before it’s too late: where to develop such distros? which channels to download and distribute them from? And so on. > > It’s good to remind to those who keep on repeating the words “legal” and “illegal” that for example Nelson Mandela [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela] was, technically speaking, a criminal who did and promoted illegal activity. This happens when laws become immoral.