Post #1401745 · Elektrine

2026-03-22 13:10 UTC

Yeah, scary. What about some other scary fields like: - Real Name - Office Address - Office number - Office telephone number - Home telephone number - external e-mail address I mean if those fields were stored, could you imagine the danger that Linux users would be in? You don't have to imagine, because those fields have been stored in UNIX/Linux since **1962**. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecos_field

Replies (6)

@MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 2026-03-22 13:57

I think back then it was generally assumed this simply assisted with office communication. Imagine telling a UNIX engineer in the 70's how almost everything you enter into a machine would eventually be used to manipulate or entrap you by the State and surveillance capitalism.

Open ##1401746
@kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2026-03-22 18:05

Those are also **entirely optional** and not having them filled in doesn't cause other software to stop doing what the user wants.

Open ##1401747
@Shanmugha@lemmy.world 2026-03-22 16:18

Stored "because law", right?

Open ##1401748
@PseudoSpock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-03-23 19:06

Your argument is an informal fallacy called Whataboutism. I invite you to educate yourself by reading about it on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism)

Open ##1401749
@Auli@lemmy.ca 2026-03-22 20:29

Open ##1401750
@jdnewmil@lemmy.ca 2026-03-22 13:52

You must be off by a decade. Your reference mentions no OS and Unic was developed around 1970.

Open ##1401751