Google is tightening control over Android under the guise of ‘security,’ but this crackdown on sideloading is a direct hit to digital sovereignty and FOSS. I’ve written about why this matters for our privacy and the future of open platforms. What do you think—is this the end of Android’s ‘open’ era?
TBH this possibility does scare me. That we could lose this freedom too on PC.
Today already, most PC come with Microsoft’s secure boot keys in firmware. Microsoft signs the install keys for many Linux distros. It isn’t totally locked down, b/c you can turn this off in UEFI. But most of the pieces exist. Frog and pot…
The PC platform is “open”, oh yes… but when Microsoft says jump, PC mfgs ask how high. We could somday see pressure to lock down all computing, not just mobile. To protect the children, you know…
I think you’re right to be scared, the only thing stopping a corp like microsoft from doing it already is the threat of facing legal sanctions, which is more of an inconvenience then a threat to a corp like microsoft.