A slippery slope isn't always a fallacy. Yes, that is a specific name of a fallacy, which people commonly point out, but it is also the form of a valid logical argument. If there is support that this will happen, it isn't a fallacy.

I this case, a user-entered field is useless to "protect children" (being generous and assuming this is the actual reason for the laws). Children will just lie, as they have been doing for decades. The state will point to this as the law not fulfilling its stated goals, so they'll need to verify age through other means. Even if the goal isn't surveillance of people, this is still likely to be the result logically. This means the slippery slope argument is valid.

It could be a slippery slope. That's why the point is not to just accept it and move on, but to comply while pushing back against it.

And complying right away, but with a bullshit field, is a good way to signal "we do not agree, and we're going to always find a way to fight back".

Taking a hit to avoid defeat, does not mean surrendering. It just means that you need to recognise when a battle is lost. In a way, the other side of the slippery slope is the sunk cost fallacy, where you refuse to admit that something is a lost cause and you keep on pushing, making things worse.

It's a matter of balance and reason, which people nowadays reaaaally struggle with.

and it happens exactly as the people whose claim is being denied with “slippery slope” fallacy said

But this is the crux of the fallacy. What evidence is anyone providing that there is indeed an insidious chain of events we are enabling by adding the birthdate field? Are there examples of cases similar to this in history?

EDIT: I can tell people are getting emotional about this because I'm being down voted for just asking a question that elaborates the point someone is making.

They're not handing over private crypto keys here. It's a database entry that the person installing the system can put whatever they like in.

I don't disagree with anything here.

But my point wasn't "there's nothing to worry about", it was "an age field is the minimum they can do, and blaming them for it is pointless".

My point is that this law is already there, and the fight needs to be brought where it matters, and the code of linux systems is not what is going to change politics. When someone is held at gunpoint, you don't yell at them to fight back and curse them when they don't, but you attack the attacker.

This law affects so few people in the world

It's not just one law (/statute).

Around a third of a billion and increasing, seems a strange quantity to dismiss as "so few people in the world".

No one on my entire content is affected by this stupidity.

Continent?

How long will that last?

As I said, it's a loss. It is not going to bring anything good, and can only bring bad stuff.

But my point is that the alternative of ignoring this law would just worsen the situation.

If you want to fight a law, you need to do it with meaningful measures. You find flaws, you revolt, but you don't just ignore the law and hope to not be attacked for it.

If a big linux distro does it, it will lead them to endless legal battles that will ruin them, and then what?

The strategy here is to accept the loss, mitigate it as much as possible, and attack the source, which is politics, governments, and popular support and understanding.

Explain to people why it's bad, burn down the government, and fix the system. If we only fight the symptoms when they target us, we've already lost.

Everyone I don't agree with is a bot!

And what would refusing a field do?

What needs to be done is basically a revolt against current governments and capitalism, not nitpicking every privacy-invading law that comes, and then waiting patiently for the next one to come.

You'd rather put a big target on linux systems for stupid fucks to label it as "the big danger for our kids" which would just bring nothing good.

You want to stop taking hits, then stop waiting for them and then pretend that dodging is the only solution.

In soviet america software outlaws you.