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Your phone is about to stop being yours

keepandroidopen.org

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Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#681
post #258

This is the most important part: >> Developers Do not sign up. Don't join the program by signing up for the Android Developer Console and agreeing to their irrevocable Terms and Conditions. Don't verify your identity. Don't play ball. Google's plan only works if developers comply. Don't. Talk other developers and organizations out of signing up. Add the FreeDroidWarn library to your apps to warn users. Run a website?…

That's not the solution - developers or businesses are squeezed into signing up anyway to survive/make a profit. The only viable alternative is to create an alternative - Linux phones.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen new data from celbrite in awhile, but I believe that grapheneos was the only truly secure phone from it for both bfu and afu as of a couple years ago. Apple lost my confidence after they removed Advanced Device Encryption for British users (plus implemented age verification for them). https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/14344-cellebrite-premium-ju...

I think it's been said that nobody has yet cracked Apple's Lockdown Mode, but that's likely not truly comparable?

iPhone security is a myth. This is because you can't scan iPhone for threats, so Apple can pretend they don't happen. iOS is probably the least secure platform there is thanks to the security by obscurity approach by Apple.

You can use iPhone being blissfully unaware it has malware on it even in Lockdown mode (which is essentially cope mechanism and Apple way of saying "we care about security, trust us bro").

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#683
post #48

This feels like something where the EU Commission should step in. This is directly counter to the Digital Markets Act, it's Google abusing its gatekeeper position.

They replied to me they did not see any legal problem with notarization.

We need a DMA 2.0 which address the oligopoly of dominant Operating Systems, including the freedom to install alternative OSes (no more signed bootloaders, proper hardware documentation, etc...).

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#684
From my point of view I don't see anything wrong with knowing a little bit more about the person behind the app I'm trusting to do my personal compute on my personal device. Personally I always think twice when I download apps from company's whose names I don't recognize. Same with PCs... do you really want to run that *.exe you downloaded from that cool site you found?

Changes like this will help keep developers honest and accountable. Yeah yeah bad apples will still find ways to screw us.

If you want to publish an app to a global scale ecosystem, is it really too much to ask to give some ID?

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#685

Someone here on HN used the term "cloud terminal" for modern electronic devices, and I think that is a very fitting name for phones and tablets. They are definitely not computers because they do not actually give the user access to general purpose computing in the sense that the users can control exactly what computations the device is going to execute. They are just terminals whose production costs we cover but whic…

Well, they can do computing, but it's awkward and most people don't use them for that, it's true. The question of ownership is interesting. If I buy a chair, it doesn't make a very good table, does that mean I don't own it? Most people don't know what general purpose computing is. To them a cloud terminal is a computer. So, to them, they do own their devices because that's all they are. I feel like some of us think w…

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Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#686

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you just move the goalposts from “you can’t run arbitrary code today” to “hypothetically, in the future, Apple could prevent running arbitrary code”?

As with Google accounts, it's not hypothetical, it's a risk. People do occasionally get locked out of being an Apple developer for reasons they cannot foresee. > Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252114 > Apple bans entire dev account, no reason given https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44601548

It’s still rhetorical sleight of hand.

I could have a stroke that leaves me unable to program. Does that mean I am not truly free to program today?

Those are risks, but they do not change the on-the-ground reality today, and the claim was that users, today, cannot use these device as general purpose computers.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is this acceptable for phones but would not for the case above? PCs happened by accident. Before the PC, people had TVs - devices not for creating, but for passively consuming content made by big corporations and the state. And we had games consoles - devices not for creating, but for playing games made by a medium-sized company, with strict approval by a huge company (who want a cut). Strictly censored to be a…

Alongside TV we had cameras, and families across the country filming birthdays and other special occasions. Alongside newspapers we had 'zine culture and mail-order pamphlets. There has always been the option to contribute - the Apple iPhone is quite possibly the first exception.

And you can still use the camera app to post your pictures to social media. It's hardly the same level of creative participation that the PC invites.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK, not really a fan of redefining computer to make a rhetorical point. It seems counter-productive to tell people the computing device they think as a computer isn’t really a computer. It’s like saying my car isn’t really a car because I can’t adjust spark timing. Someone could make that semantic argument but it’s hard to imagine anyone would care.

>It’s like saying my car isn’t really a car because I can’t adjust spark timing. What if it only drives along select predetermined monetised routes?

Even a car that you are not allowed to drive at all is still a car. It just isn't your car.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK, not really a fan of redefining computer to make a rhetorical point. It seems counter-productive to tell people the computing device they think as a computer isn’t really a computer. It’s like saying my car isn’t really a car because I can’t adjust spark timing. Someone could make that semantic argument but it’s hard to imagine anyone would care.

>It’s like saying my car isn’t really a car because I can’t adjust spark timing. What if it only drives along select predetermined monetised routes?

I think we call those buses, usually!

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#690

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK, not really a fan of redefining computer to make a rhetorical point. It seems counter-productive to tell people the computing device they think as a computer isn’t really a computer. It’s like saying my car isn’t really a car because I can’t adjust spark timing. Someone could make that semantic argument but it’s hard to imagine anyone would care.

>It’s like saying my car isn’t really a car because I can’t adjust spark timing. What if it only drives along select predetermined monetised routes?

What if my aunt had three wheels?

I don’t see the value in hypotheticals like that. If the claim is that a computer is not really a computer unless every user can do any low level operations they want, is it also true that a car is not really a car unless every user can do any low level operations they want?

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