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We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

hugotunius.se

601–610 of 1001 posts

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no way around it Yes there is, the population passing laws to regulate this. The problem is though, that most people don't understand and don't care enough until its too late.

Or forcibly taking over a factory.

[dead]

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#604
post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I also don’t see Apple or Google as merely companies that assemble parts and selling us "hardware". The decades when hardware and software were two disconnected worlds are gone. That when you buy a phone you're also buying software components doesn't change the fact that the phone is owned entirely by you. You're not entering into a partnership to co-own the phone with anyone else, it's entirely yours. No one should…

that has never been true, your phone contains a radio, governed by the relevant laws of your locale.

My pan is also governed by the relevant laws of my locale. I can cook what I like, but I can't legally beat someone over the head with it.

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#605
post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>“Hardware I own” sounds like you bought a pan and demand the right to cook any food you want. Because I did. How come I can do what I want with my computer, but not my phone? Why are phones so inferior in this area? My phone is more powerful than many of the computers I've had in the past, yet I need to jump through a million hoops to use it as a software development platform. Why?

Your smartwatch is probably more powerful than some of your past computers too. Same with your DSLR camera. Even your smart fridge. These are specialized hardware+software gadgets designed to a particular purpose, which is very different from being a development platform. Same with a phone.

A modern smartphone is mostly a general-purpose computer designed to run arbitrary software with a couple tightly integrated and/or regulated bits. That's very different from a DSLR, which is designed to take pictures.

That said, a camera with a fully open software stack would be fun.

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#606
post #61

As other comments have pointed out, this statement (one I 100% support, BTW) is a little naive. I can see how it might be unreasonable to expect companies to publish documentation, build infrastructure, etc. to support running your own code on the hardware you own (which 99% of people will never need to do). However, I strongly believe that - should one choose to do so - you should not be stopped from jailbreaking, c…

> Companies aren't obligated to support me doing this Where does one draw the line on support? If I jailbreak an iPhone, should I still get Apple customer support for the apps on it, even though they may have been manipulated by some aspect of the jailbreak? (Very real problem, easy to cause crashes in other apps when you mess around with root access) Should I still get a battery replacement within warranty from Appl…

As you said, this might be a complex one to figure out. I am biased because I tend not to use customer support services (with more of a "figure it out" approach) and am confident I could replace parts myself, though the latter might be harder with parts pairing today.

Can see how people more interested in the software side of things would care about support from [parent company] though. "Lose all support if you bypass our restrictions" is the relatively straightforward approach, but the collateral damage might be quite high. In an ideal world, perhaps the network of third party repair services could take up the slack?

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#607
Governments should be protecting consumers not companies. Every time that company tries to limit consumers in any way, government should step it and forbid it.

That's the whole benefit of having strong central government, that it can curb ambitions of smaller local tyrants.

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#608
post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only competition can provide a solution. We have lost sight of this principle even though all Western democracies are built on the idea of separation of powers, and making it hard for any one faction of elites to gain full control and ruin things for everyone else. Make them fight with each other, let them get a piece of the pie, but never all of it. That's why we have multiple branches of government, multiple partie…

>There has never been a utopian past and there will never be a utopian future. I wouldn't call it utopian, but I'd say we are way past "peak democracy" at this point. There was a time in which corporations did get broken up when too large, when we did understand that it's about serving the population first and accumulating wealth after that, when corporations influencing politics was widely seen as a negative. It doe…

And when was this utopia in your opinion? This sounds like rosy retrospection to me.

Or are you talking about a very specific industry, because the thread sounds like it is all society or "Late capitalism" which I disagree with.

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#609
post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk to people. I know many of us are socially awkward but if you never talk to people they will never learn. Big tech is not combating hate on their platforms because they know it divides people. Combat that by being social and talk to people.

Is not that easy and is not a matter of being awkward or not, being social or not. People get tired very easily when talking about things they don't understand, especially technology. And when they kind of get you, they don't see the point that you are trying to make, easily dismissing you on why would you want to do something like that when you have "all the apps for free" with a few taps and that there is not such…

Then communicate it digestible without going too deep. The people I talk to usually care about my worries because I also care about theirs.

Re: We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

#610
post #201

Start with buying the right hardware. Fairphone offers more control over the hardware: https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/104924762388... https://www.fairphone.com/

I feel like such initiatives miss one obvious target - the well heeled tech savvy user (who quite often is also privacy minded) and wants the latest. At the price point they are selling a Snapdragon 7 device, I can get a Snapdragon 8 Elite phone from the market quite easily. Now I am happy to pay more because of what they stand for but I don't see them selling a model that features the latest and greatest + the priva…

They said with the latest device release (like 2 months ago) that they're shifting their focus towards what you're saying (good quality without paying a huge premium), but it's still hard because what's good for you isn't good for me. I find the device too large and not fast enough; my partner would find the device already quite expensive as well as on the small side. The device won't work for everyone, even if they'd make it cost twice as much (and very few people are willing to pay even a 50% premium). Instead, they're trying to now please more people while making somewhat more compromises in the ethics department as compared to being more strict there and having it work for even fewer people

None of their previous phones were (at release) as close to competitive as the Fairphone 6 is today

We could have both an ethical/privacy device and many models at competitive price points, but that requires economies of scale to the same extent as non-fair competitors are doing. It sounded for a short time (like ten years ago) as though more vendors would go this route when incontrovertibly shown that it is possible and they merely need to tell FP's vendors "give some of that fairly mined Cobalt to us, too", but FP is here and history hasn't played out that way so this is what we've got. I assume this is the best that they were able to achieve with the resources they could muster. All we can do to help it grow is buy the device, or start a competitor or collaboration

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