Comment by whatshisface
15 days ago
The EU age verification system for the web is currently planned to rely on the Android/iOS anti-tampering device controls: https://github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/av-doc-technic.... None of the plans to achieve China's level of internal control over communication can work without banning all user-administrated devices from the web, so I guess that's what you can expect next.
Even China doesn't rely on controlling information from the user-side, they know any devices can be hacked lol. They rely more on controlling the server-side (WeChat, Douyin, Weibo, Bilibili, etc) and infrastructure (GFW).
Well mostly, aside from some exceptions like (allegedly) Apple's AirDrop limitations.
Many Chinese brands still support unlockable bootloader: https://github.com/melontini/bootloader-unlock-wall-of-shame...
Although going forward, there's a strong incentive for manufacturers to follow Google and lock their devices.
Most chinese small brands are trivial to unlock and root. I doubt that will change; they dont care, which is great.
Uhm actually almost none let you unlock the bootloader anymore
1 reply →
> None of the plans to achieve China's level of internal control over communication can work without banning all user-administrated devices from the web
Not that I want that future, but it's not like China has banned all user-administrated devices from the web. Seems odd to say this is necessary when, axiomatically, China has China's level of internal control over communication.
There's a part of me that really wishes that we could have policies around things like age verification that implictly understand the existence of workarounds and accept them. If we're going to have these policies, anyways.
Australia's phase 2 industry codes build on phase 1 which was blocking csam and terrorist stuff and are into the child protection phase with age assurance and content restrictions.
There are draft documents across a range of services including search, social media and internet carriage.
The most relevant ones for Android are:
- app distribution services https://onlinesafety.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CLEAN...
- manufacture supply of devices (including operating systems) https://onlinesafety.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CLEAN...
The future is looking bleak for open computing and open hardware. They have gone from being a place of education, freedom and empowerment to a loophole in regulation.
This is a reference implementation, national governments are expected to make their own versions. Last I checked the longest discussion thread on there had a comment from a developer who stated it's included in the Digital Identity Wallet app (of which the AV wallet reference is a fork) simply because it's a checkmark item on OWASP Mobile.
Nothing instills more confidence than a reference implementation that does the wrong thing. Sorry for being so sarcastic.
This is why we need a "linux" phone. Maybe Jolla would step in more seriously.