You know why encryption is legal despite Bush and Clinton's best attempts to prevent it?
Because Gen-X kids risked a decade in jail for breaking Federal law to ensure the code got out there and everyone had it.
There's a very big difference in approach here and specifically about *who* was responsible for doing something. Encryption wasn't illegal, it was subject to export controls. The onus was exclusively on those exporting a product, and that fundamentally fails in the world of the internet.
It's fun to think that some open source coders standing their ground ended this, but the reality is it was big corporations. Those who offered "US version" and "International version" downloads on the same website. The "Here's a complaint one, pretty please use it" approach to adopting the law. This change here in Systemd is very much along the same lines: An entirely optional field. You want to be a rebel end user, don't use it. You want to be a large corporation who actually has legal departments that would otherwise ban the product from being used internally? Do use it.
These have always been about maximising availability while minimising risk. Gen-X rebels didn't kill the encryption debate. The entire concept of an internet which knows no borders did.