Today, at Framasoft (bonjour!), we publish the very first version of the PeerTube Mobile app for android and iOS. A lot of care went into its conception, to help a wider audience watch videos and discover platforms, while not getting their attention (and data) exploited. 🎈Framasoft is 20 years old🎈 : Contribute to finance a...
Christ. Caring about your rights and using Apple products is not compatible.
I don’t think it has to be all-or-nothing when it comes to caring about your rights. I care about my rights, but might still have to deal with a Windows PC for select use cases.
I have friends who undoubtedly care about their rights and simultaneously own an iPhone. Does it make them a hypocrite? I don’t think so. I think it means that “caring about your rights” is situationally, and generally, really difficult to put into practice in 2024 and not everyone can go full RMS and completely forgo all cell phone use on principle.
You can still install things on your Windows PC. Apple’s control over their ecosystem is to a degree where you have no meaningful ownership over your hardware any more.
I think people don’t need to be hypocritical, it’s enough to be ignorant. But if you care enough not to be ignorant and you still tolerate it, you might have a problem walking the walk rather than just talking the talk.
I think it’s disingenuous to suggest that people are only “walking the walk” if they take every single avenue possible to protect every single right they believe they have. I run Linux on every device I own, but the CPUs on those systems are still largely vulnerable to privacy violations from things like Intel Management Engine and other vectors caused by closed-source blobs in the firmware. Am I only “walking the walk” if I also go the extra mile to flash Coreboot or Libreboot to my devices?
If you believe in your right to privacy, you shouldn’t own a cell phone at all, should you? Even a dumb flip phone allows governments and other private entities with enough power or resources to monitor your location at all times.
I think using Apple products involves paying money to a company who actively hurts you and limits your rights. That you cannot install software developed by an orbganization that accepts donations is pretty insane.
I’m not much of an absolutist. One can only do so much. But Apple is putting unreasonable constraints on consumers, and it should not be tolerated.
Vendor lock-in and walled gardens aren’t an Apple-specific problem, though. I’m not saying Apple doesn’t have problems that they are particularly bad for, just that “paying money to a company who actively hurts you and limits your rights” isn’t unique enough to Apple for me to consider someone not “walking the walk” for buying their products. Most mainstream phone brands have locked bootloaders that limit your rights to affect the hardware you purchased, but I’m not going to suggest someone isn’t “walking the walk” with regard to their consumer rights for owning one.
I agree they’re putting unreasonable constraints on consumers. I do not agree with labelling those who do tolerate it as not caring about their rights or not “walking the walk” when everyone has different, if arbitrary, desires, goals, and limitations that are unique to them.
I don’t judge them too hard. Much like Twitter users I think they are blndly using a product that has gotten gradually worse. Much like Twitter users I think they need to realise at some point. But I understand that it’s difficult, and much like Twitter’s social graph, Apple’s network of services keep people captive.
And yes, there are huge problems in the Android camp as well. I sympathize with users who think all alternatives are bad, but I think we need to realize some are worse than others.
Also worth noting I don’t think anyone should buy a new phone over this. Whoever has an iPhone should keep using it until they can’t. But if they care, they should get something else after.