A small set of people are merging changes to various Linux components to make sure every application knows your birth date.
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@artemis @wwahammy this isn't complying in advance, it's complying with the law. Which passed unanimously through the California assembly and senate and was signed into law by Gavin Newsom in 2025. It's not going to be repealed.
Open source projects do not have the type of budget that allows them to merely ignore the law and shrug off fines and legal fees.
@smn @artemis do you think Desktop Linux as it currently exists complies with every law in every jurisdiction? Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't.
There's already strong discussion on significant amendments on the law. The Governor signed it and pointed out is was impractical and needed to be amended.
Do you really think the AG of California is going to sue *random Linux distro with almost no money* over this?
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@wwahammy @artemis Like seriously. Even if you weren't going to consider complying with this unthinkable, adopting something like this that's a policy matter should be a process that requires a proposal and feedback from the community, with a long enough time window for that to happen. Not rushed-through changes by shadowy actors who show up just to do what some malicious external authority demands.
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@smn @artemis do you think Desktop Linux as it currently exists complies with every law in every jurisdiction? Because I'm pretty sure it doesn't.
There's already strong discussion on significant amendments on the law. The Governor signed it and pointed out is was impractical and needed to be amended.
Do you really think the AG of California is going to sue *random Linux distro with almost no money* over this?
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@ShadSterling @artemis @smn while understandable, that's not a good solution. I don't think we should trade one freedom away for another.
The whole thing needs to be stopped. Period. No compromise, no surrender.
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@ShadSterling @smn @wwahammy it's a nightmare. What's particular irking me rn is that the 'Freedom' brigade that have been SO vocal during the height of covid are now totally silent on draconian laws that will actually limit real freedom of speech. (surprise, surprise).
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@ShadSterling @smn @wwahammy it's a nightmare. What's particular irking me rn is that the 'Freedom' brigade that have been SO vocal during the height of covid are now totally silent on draconian laws that will actually limit real freedom of speech. (surprise, surprise).
@artemis @ShadSterling @smn I mean, they're backing it.
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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 unclear motivations and being merged with no youth and few marginalized people involved.
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 (gitlab.freedesktop.org)
@wwahammy Of course, the "spam" they're talking about is people signing up to tell them that this is madness.
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@ShadSterling @artemis @smn while understandable, that's not a good solution. I don't think we should trade one freedom away for another.
The whole thing needs to be stopped. Period. No compromise, no surrender.
@wwahammy @ShadSterling @smn we are rapidly getting to a point (some would argue past a point) where resistance, for us white folks who've had little skin in the game, is going to mean real consequences and confronting the fact that the law is an ass.
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@artemis @ShadSterling @smn I mean, they're backing it.
@wwahammy @ShadSterling @smn well yeah. Slightly different from where I sit (in Australia, having seen the 'sovereign citizens' on the socials, whining about face masks and traffic violations, rather than the political figures. They're just absent. )
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@artemis @wwahammy this isn't complying in advance, it's complying with the law. Which passed unanimously through the California assembly and senate and was signed into law by Gavin Newsom in 2025. It's not going to be repealed.
Open source projects do not have the type of budget that allows them to merely ignore the law and shrug off fines and legal fees.
"It's not going to be repealed," ok, but like, can we? Can we build a plan to get this reversed? I'm about to complain on the daily to my state reps, because I sure as hell didn't ask them to pass it, and they sure as hell didn't let me know this was even in the works.
If I got backing, I'd even do the work of getting a prop going to repeal this, I'm not even joking. Or should some other options be explored first? Is anyone else taking these steps? Can anyone hear me? Where is the pushback against this?
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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 unclear motivations and being merged with no youth and few marginalized people involved.
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 (gitlab.freedesktop.org)
@wwahammy these are definitely not unknown people. I guarantee you every single fucking one of them is a Meta or Google employee.
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@wwahammy these are definitely not unknown people. I guarantee you every single fucking one of them is a Meta or Google employee.
@rootwyrm as far as I know, I don't think they are.
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@rootwyrm as far as I know, I don't think they are.
@wwahammy there's no fucking way that these commits are not directly linked to Meta and their ilk. Absolutely none at all. These are the only companies besides IBM with the staff, and the only ones with the vested interest, as well as a LONG history of hiding, minimizing, or straight up lying about their involvement in things.
If the IPs aren't from Meta's ASN, they're employees using their home connection again, something the company has ordered them to do for breaking the law for example. -
@wwahammy there's no fucking way that these commits are not directly linked to Meta and their ilk. Absolutely none at all. These are the only companies besides IBM with the staff, and the only ones with the vested interest, as well as a LONG history of hiding, minimizing, or straight up lying about their involvement in things.
If the IPs aren't from Meta's ASN, they're employees using their home connection again, something the company has ordered them to do for breaking the law for example.@rootwyrm sadly, I think it's mostly people who genuinely believe they're doing the right thing. They're 100% wrong.
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@ShadSterling @artemis @smn while understandable, that's not a good solution. I don't think we should trade one freedom away for another.
The whole thing needs to be stopped. Period. No compromise, no surrender.
@wwahammy @artemis @smn it does, but I don’t think that license change is meant to be a whole solution, and I’m not sure what better thing those orgs could do.
Until it is stopped, maybe it would be better if the ones not located in California just ignored it; it’s not like they can impose California law on the entire world
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@grayrattus @frumble @artemis @smn no, we're fucking not. But it doesn't help that big companies are pushing these policies either.
