My shield updated to this the other day. I'm pretty furious about it, it's not a cheap device, and it's certainly not Google's. To be adding these "features" without asking, irrespective of whatever agreement between me, Nvidia or Google exists, is ridiculous. I know it's in whatever terms I, uh, "accepted", but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Fortunately, I know how to use ADB and just installed ano…
>but there's just no escaping it in this day and age. Yes there is. Absolutely no closed software ever. That's the rule you use. Even the modem on the phone I'm typing this on is running FOSS firmware. Don't compromise your freedom for convenience, you always end up with neither when you do.
It's delusional to think you have an absolute choice in this matter. Of course at any one point in time you can always chose to pick options that make a slightly different trade-off between convenience and freedom than the mainstream. But a few years into a strong persistent trend in society at large, even a tin-foil hat, self-flagellating setup will be offering you far less freedom than experienced some years back by someone who always chose convenience over freedom.