Hardly realistic. You dont need to outlaw anything to make it steer in one direction. All you need is friction and incentives.
The boiling frog of digital freedom
71–80 of 467 posts
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about Safari too?
It seems like Apple is intentionally dragging its feet in implementing new web standards in Safari (webusb, webgpu, webmidi, bluetooth, filesystem, etc) in order to keep native apps relevant (which is a big cash cow for Apple).
if they implement them then the criticism morphs into “more tech for others to use when spying on us”.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#73This rather heavily begs the question what do we mean by "freedom"? We don't mean anonymity. Acting in secret is not freedom - acting openly and not being persecuted or prosecuted is freedom. The solution is what it is in real offline life. A regulated legal framework that allows most and limits little, a open dynamic culture that accepts diversity and constant change. If we are worried that digital freedom will be t…
> We don't mean anonymity. Acting in secret is not freedom - acting openly and not being persecuted or prosecuted is freedom.
So, if I openly state that I do not acquiesce to any government (all external force is immoral imo) - does that mean I am now free, and no longer subject to its laws, pay taxes, etc?
So, I don't think your definition of freedom cuts it. Any answer that assumes 'government' as part of the answer, and justifies acting with force against others, has to be wrong (immoral).
Far better to follow the golden rule:
Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated
I think that does it.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#74There is one interesting force acting against that though (or it would probably already have happened). It is the simple fact that most people that are competent enough to actually implement these things also understand the problems with doing so. For the most part anyway. If we could just agree to not do that... well, what are "they" going to do? And of course: we owe it to the web to use Firefox. The Chrome clones…
I think the ship has sailed for the web. Many apps don't even bother with making functional webapps any longer; the go to market are mobile apps for the censorship platforms.
The web lost. Now it's just a transport layer for mobile app API requests.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about Safari too?
It is the one Chrome fork that sees some development. (Yes, of course the forkage was the other way). So while they do have a seat at the standards table, i can't say i see much potential (or results). They also don't offer it outside their own locked-down platform by the looks of it. I.e. they have permanently kneecapped their market-share to near-pointless levels.
> they have permanently kneecapped their market-share to near-pointless levels.
they have 25% of the mobile browser market share.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#76The other day I read an HN comment that thought that when you buy consumer PC hardware, it comes with a ToS that limits your property rights as the owner. It's the kind of uncanny experience I run into more and more often lately: talking with people so immersed in our new normal of cyberpunk dystopia, they seem not to remember how things were in the before-times. So accustomed to exploitative corporate gaslighting, w…
Which ownership rights do the sellers retain now that they didn’t previously? I’m not familiar with any ToS that permits a company to repossess your PC or parts of it.
If you’re talking about manufacturers making their devices more difficult to repair or voiding warranties based on minor modifications, that doesn’t mean you can’t do what you want with the item. It just means you can’t force the company to fix or replace it free of charge when you do.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about Safari too?
It seems like Apple is intentionally dragging its feet in implementing new web standards in Safari (webusb, webgpu, webmidi, bluetooth, filesystem, etc) in order to keep native apps relevant (which is a big cash cow for Apple).
Good. Native apps should stay relevant.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#78VPNs wont be outlawed. But they will be KYC and backdoored encryption - so like an typical internet service provider. VPNs are used all the time in the cloud for legitimate reasons so outlawing is impractical (like outlawing a kitchen knife)
VPNs requiring KYC is the same as outlawing non-KYC VPNs.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#79The other day I read an HN comment that thought that when you buy consumer PC hardware, it comes with a ToS that limits your property rights as the owner. It's the kind of uncanny experience I run into more and more often lately: talking with people so immersed in our new normal of cyberpunk dystopia, they seem not to remember how things were in the before-times. So accustomed to exploitative corporate gaslighting, w…
A lot of people were just born into this too. People under 27 or so have never known anything other than this pretty much.
Re: The boiling frog of digital freedom
#80> 2025: Google removes the ability to install Android apps from outside the Play store, citing security concerns.
This is not happening for sure. Look how apple is being sued from everywhere because of it.