Comment by bluebarbet
11 hours ago
Sure, but even when (or if) it these issues get fixed, it will all be academic unless the devices can run the apps that normies want (or "need"). Up to and including the OS-level wallet app that unbricks the NFC chip, and all the banking and similar "high-security" apps that increasingly require some kind of device attestation to run at all. The trend is all in one direction.
It's easy to say, "Just don't use that stuff". But if everyone wants ("needs") it and we don't have it, then we're left with a <1% user base of activists and eccentrics. And at that point we've lost all influence on the ongoing slide towards surveillance dystopia. It's dispiriting. I'm just hoping that somehow I've got something wrong in this pessimistic analysis.
You're not wrong, but everything starts with activists, and hopefully if enough activists start using such devices and demand services for them, something might change. I do my part.
Indeed, so do I. 1984 was a great novel but its worst predictions have still not come true. Turns out quite a lot of humans appreciate freedom.