this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Honestly just open up the laws around reverse engineering and prohibit software blocks that can't be removed for free.

That will cause actual competition in the repair market.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And enforce giving root access to device owners if no security updates are provided anymore (e.g. if a exploit is not fixed within x time after gaining knowledge of it)

[–] troydowling 37 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Root access should be available from the moment my purchase payment clears. I paid, it's my device.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly. If you don't have root, you don't "own" the device. Apps, like bank apps, that refuse to run on devices with root access, (or custom OSs) should be illegal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My bank gave me a hardware 2FA keypad as a replacement thankfully...

Any services/apps that don't work on my rooted device as-is are out, only a few like Netflix are an exception due to others using it 🥲

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For apple, the iPhone is like DRM for their software and you buy the license to use iOS and not hardware. 😅

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For ~~apple~~ basically every smartphone maker except a small subset with the marketshare that is basically a rounding error that focus on openness, the ~~iPhone~~ smartphone is like DRM for their software and you buy the license to use iOS and not hardware. 😅

Just because Android is more customizable and has worse security practices that allow jailbreak/root easier doesn't mean that it's an intended feature or that most don't actively fight against it. The default for virtually all phones sold is lock you into their App Store and extract revenue from using their services. As much as I love the convenience of smartphones, it's frankly a mistake the entire consumer market made in allowing the default be that you can't fully control your device 100%, whether that's running root or just repairing them easily.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good point, I agree. Put for what I understand unlocking the bootloader on pixel phones is an intended feature on the phone. Hidden feature, but intended to be useable by any who thinks they are a Dev. Source: https://www.thecustomdroid.com/google-pixel-bootloader-unlock-guide/

Please correct me if I’m wrong.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I think you're right. I didn't get too specific but that was the part I intended in the "small subset" comment I made, along with others like FairPhone, who I assume offer this.

[–] creditCrazy 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly I'd love to have more you ain't selling it laws but hey I'm just a dude who wants to play Majora's mask without having to wear my N64 into dust fr why are we treating retro games like they are currently being sold

[–] StopSpazzing 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you own the physical game last I checked, you can legally play it on an emulator

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Except for e.g. Japan, there, it is even illegal to modify your 3ds to download the lost 3ds ware that you bought but forgot to download prior the shutdown of the eShop on 3ds.

[–] creditCrazy 4 points 1 year ago

Each day we stray further from god

[–] Adalast 5 points 1 year ago

I had a fantasy the other night about making it law that if a company stops selling a software product, "independent distributors" would be allowed to provide functional copies as a public service. The content owners would still own it, the "independent distributors" would not be allowed to profit directly from the items, and if the owner decides to start selling it again, it would need to be removed from the distribution repository so long as it is being sold for a reasonable price with reasonable availability.

Essentially, I want to make ROMs legal to distribute when gaming companies decide they don't want to sell it anymore. Why the fuck is 95% of the NES catalog illegal to obtain. And they can stuff their shit about "losing money" on it. They aren't selling it, they aren't making money.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I have a good half dozen vendors that tell me the installer locking down the equipment is a feature, like it's lost on them you can keep customers around by not being a wanker