Systemd Adds Age Indication Ahead of Schedule - Revision history

Charlie 6: /* Consumer response */ fixed a source error

2026-03-21T03:35:53Z

Consumer response: fixed a source error

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:35, 21 March 2026
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	==Consumer response==		==Consumer response==
	Consumer response is mixed. Some says the age is manually entered so it doesn't affect privacy, others warn about the slippery slope and the potential to add national ID on system boot or installation. Users also point out Microsoft's influence over systemd<ref>{{Cite web \|last=u/KestrelVO \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321032725/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-21 \|access-date=2026-03-21 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web \|~~first~~=u/ChamplooAttitude \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=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. \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321005304/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ \|archive-date=2026-03-21 \|access-date=2026-03-21 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>.		Consumer response is mixed. Some says the age is manually entered so it doesn't affect privacy, others warn about the slippery slope and the potential to add national ID on system boot or installation. Users also point out Microsoft's influence over systemd<ref>{{Cite web \|last=u/KestrelVO \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321032725/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-21 \|access-date=2026-03-21 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web \|last=u/ChamplooAttitude \|first= \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=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. \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321005304/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ \|archive-date=2026-03-21 \|access-date=2026-03-21 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>.

	Users have been migrating to Artix Linux, Void Linux, Devuan and other systemd-free Linux distributions.		Users have been migrating to Artix Linux, Void Linux, Devuan and other systemd-free Linux distributions.

Charlie 6: added another source in Consumer response

2026-03-21T03:35:10Z

added another source in Consumer response

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:35, 21 March 2026
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	In Mar 5 2026, Dylan M. Taylor, a developer and tech enthusiast made two commits on systemd "userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records", commenting<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Taylor \|first=Dylan M. \|date=2026-03-19 \|title=userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records \|url=https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320055709/https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref><blockquote>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.</blockquote>In Mar 19 2026, Luca Boccassi<ref>{{Cite web \|title=Luca Boccassi \|url=https://github.com/bluca \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320172404/https://github.com/bluca \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>, a member of Systemd and a Microsoft employee, merged the commit.		In Mar 5 2026, Dylan M. Taylor, a developer and tech enthusiast made two commits on systemd "userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records", commenting<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Taylor \|first=Dylan M. \|date=2026-03-19 \|title=userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records \|url=https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320055709/https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref><blockquote>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.</blockquote>In Mar 19 2026, Luca Boccassi<ref>{{Cite web \|title=Luca Boccassi \|url=https://github.com/bluca \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320172404/https://github.com/bluca \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>, a member of Systemd and a Microsoft employee, merged the commit.

	Lennart Poettering, the creator of systemd, known for having [[wikipedia:Lennart_Poettering#Controversies\|controversial technical and architectural]] positions regarding the Linux ecosystem, has clarified that this change is:<blockquote>An optional field in the userdb JSON object. It's not a policy engine, not an API for apps. We just define the field, so that it's standardized ~~iff~~ people want to store the date there, but it's entirely optional<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Rudra \|first=Sourav \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320123152/https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=It's FOSS}}</ref>.</blockquote>		Lennart Poettering, the creator of systemd, known for having [[wikipedia:Lennart_Poettering#Controversies\|controversial technical and architectural]] positions regarding the Linux ecosystem, has clarified that this change is:<blockquote>An optional field in the userdb JSON object. It's not a policy engine, not an API for apps. We just define the field, so that it's standardized if people want to store the date there, but it's entirely optional<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Rudra \|first=Sourav \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320123152/https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=It's FOSS}}</ref>.</blockquote>

	===[Company]'s response===		===[Company]'s response===
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	==Consumer response==		==Consumer response==
	Consumer response is mixed. Some says the age is manually entered so it doesn't affect privacy, others warn about the slippery slope and the potential to add national ID on system boot or installation. Users also point out Microsoft's influence over systemd<ref>{{Cite web \|last=u/KestrelVO \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321032725/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>.		Consumer response is mixed. Some says the age is manually entered so it doesn't affect privacy, others warn about the slippery slope and the potential to add national ID on system boot or installation. Users also point out Microsoft's influence over systemd<ref>{{Cite web \|last=u/KestrelVO \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321032725/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-21 \|access-date=2026-03-21 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web \|first=u/ChamplooAttitude \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=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. \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321005304/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz8i4r/dylan_useful_idiot_with_commit_access_pushed_age/ \|archive-date=2026-03-21 \|access-date=2026-03-21 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>.

	Users have been migrating to Artix Linux, Void Linux, Devuan and other systemd-free Linux distributions.		Users have been migrating to Artix Linux, Void Linux, Devuan and other systemd-free Linux distributions.

Charlie 6: work in progress of this ongoing event

2026-03-21T03:28:33Z

work in progress of this ongoing event

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:28, 21 March 2026
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	\|Type=Privacy		\|Type=Privacy
	\|Description=Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft		\|Description=Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft
	}}		}}systemd is criticized of being monolithic, non-modular and deviates from Unix philosophy<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Russell \|first=Sean E. \|date=2025-07-30 \|title=systemd really, really sucks \|url=https://ser1.net/post/systemd-really,-really-sucks/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260214043401/https://ser1.net/post/systemd-really,-really-sucks/ \|archive-date=2026-02-14 \|access-date=2026-03-20}}</ref>.
	{{Ph-I-~~Int~~}}
	==Background==		==Background==
	{{Ph-I-B}}		systemd is an initialization system, a suite of basic building blocks for a Linux system. It provides a system and service manager that runs as PID 1 and starts the rest of the system<ref>{{Cite web \|date=2024-02-22 \|title=systemd System and Service Manager \|url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260106163143/https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/ \|archive-date=2026-01-06 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=freedesktop.org}}</ref>.

	==[Incident]==		==[Incident]==
	{{Ph-I-I}}		In Mar 5 2026, Dylan M. Taylor, a developer and tech enthusiast made two commits on systemd "userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records", commenting<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Taylor \|first=Dylan M. \|date=2026-03-19 \|title=userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records \|url=https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320055709/https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/40954 \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref><blockquote>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.</blockquote>In Mar 19 2026, Luca Boccassi<ref>{{Cite web \|title=Luca Boccassi \|url=https://github.com/bluca \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320172404/https://github.com/bluca \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>, a member of Systemd and a Microsoft employee, merged the commit.

			Lennart Poettering, the creator of systemd, known for having [[wikipedia:Lennart_Poettering#Controversies\|controversial technical and architectural]] positions regarding the Linux ecosystem, has clarified that this change is:<blockquote>An optional field in the userdb JSON object. It's not a policy engine, not an API for apps. We just define the field, so that it's standardized iff people want to store the date there, but it's entirely optional<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Rudra \|first=Sourav \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320123152/https://itsfoss.com/news/systemd-age-verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=It's FOSS}}</ref>.</blockquote>

	===[Company]'s response===		===[Company]'s response===
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	==Consumer response==		==Consumer response==
	{{Ph-I-~~ConR~~}}		Consumer response is mixed. Some says the age is manually entered so it doesn't affect privacy, others warn about the slippery slope and the potential to add national ID on system boot or installation. Users also point out Microsoft's influence over systemd<ref>{{Cite web \|last=u/KestrelVO \|date=2026-03-20 \|title=Systemd’s New Feature Brings Age Verification Option to Linux \|url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|url-status=live \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321032725/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rz5zmh/systemds_new_feature_brings_age_verification/ \|archive-date=2026-03-20 \|access-date=2026-03-20 \|website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref>.

			Users have been migrating to Artix Linux, Void Linux, Devuan and other systemd-free Linux distributions.

	==References==		==References==

Charlie 6: Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft

2026-03-21T02:18:18Z

Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft

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{{IncidentCargo
|Status=Active
|Product=Linux
|ArticleType=Product
|Type=Privacy
|Description=Systemd added age bracket ahead of schedule, the merge was quickly done while the revert attempt was blocked, with possible influence from Microsoft
}}
{{Ph-I-Int}}
==Background==
{{Ph-I-B}}

==[Incident]==
{{Ph-I-I}}

===[Company]'s response===
{{Ph-I-ComR}}

==Lawsuit==
{{Ph-I-L}}

==Consumer response==
{{Ph-I-ConR}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Ph-I-C}}