Comment by jmward01
1 day ago
" It applies to operating systems that work with associated app stores on general purpose computers or mobile phones or game consoles. That’s it"
Everything is a general purpose computer. Just look at how many things have been made to run doom. I haven't read the law specifically but if it actually does say this then that language is useless and means practically everything.
Wood is edible when processed correctly, but it's not legally considered "food" because there are a bunch of nontrivial steps to get it into that state. Likewise, any reasonable interpretation of "general purpose computer" in this context by a judge would not include your microwave oven just because someone with skill and finesse could transform it into a cursed Doom arcade machine.
Laws are interpreted by people trained to fill in the blanks[1] with a best guess of the legislative body's intent. And the intent here seems pretty clear: to regulate computing devices that let end users easily install software from a centralized catalog.
[1] which we all do subconsciously in day-to-day speech, because all language is ultimately subjective
They exempt applications that run inside another “host application” though, which is ~ everything in any modern app store.
I guess Linux native games on GoG might be covered. All windows and wsl programs run in userspace compat layers. iOS might be covered. Snap, probably not (containers), AppImage? Maybe?
Nix, and brew? Probably not.
vague laws are put in place so that they can be used selectively to punish particular victims while letting friends through the nets
All laws are vague and interpreted, and in common law (as in the UK and US) interpreted based on precedent rather than the specific text of the original law.
If people with power over you want to "selectively punish you" they don't need new laws.
And if you want perfectly proscriptive, defined laws in all situations with no "human interpretation" you're in the wrong universe, and may as well be shouting at clouds. The world, and especially human society and interactions, just doesn't follow strict definitions like that.
"All laws are vague"
There are degrees of vagueness, but laws generally attempt to avoid being vague with many definitions and strict construction. If a law is sufficiently vague it may be invalidated, or it is at least required to be interpreted to the benefit of the defendant under lenity.
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Vague laws are not required for selective enforcement. You can have strictly defined laws result in selective enforcement through law enforcement and prosecutorial discretion.
until you root out their friends and maliciously develop app stores for their products, then install them multiple billions of times on a docker and let them rack up charges ;) doom can run on -anything-
But would Mark Zuckerberg have stopped there?? Nay. I think you could still weaponize it for profit if we only dream hard enough. Lol
>doom can run on -anything-
Frotz and Zork/Tristam Island and tons of Z3 machine games cna run on a pen, on a FPGA based display and even under a PostScript file where the interpreter was done in PostScript. Heck, with Subleq and EForth some Z3 interpreter can be coded to run the games on simple hardware made with high school/advanced trade electronics kits.
I like the way you think.