Linux Phones and Unlocked Bootloaders?
Or are computers gonna just go the smartphone route and you can’t instal another OS?
I mean, Chrombooks are the first example of computers being more locked down. Will compouter manufacturers do the same? Mifrosoft now requires TPM on windows 11, could they make “Secure Boot” mandatory for windows 12? (Thereby preventing a linux install)
the app of my bank. it refuses to work if the operating system is not original. they charge you money for each login code and transaction approval code SMS they send, but if I had the app, scanning their QR code would impose no charge.
they also recently ended the support of the new web interface for mobile browsers, to “protect against hackers”. WTH! and this is the biggest bank in the country by far according to statistics. the old site shuts down soon.
the new webapp can still be used in a mobile browser if you enable desktop mode. but for how long? and it’ll be fine for me, I would use that anyway because I don’t want to install their app for other reasons. but lots of people don’t want to deal with a website that’s been designed for desktop PCs, on a small touch screen,because it’s hard to use, it’s hard to read, and if your thumbs are big maybe it’s not even possible to use it.
for banking apps this is almost expected nowadays.
then another friend of mine has the worked related apl I said above. it does the same: refuses to let you use it because the opersting system is not the original one, unmodified. and mind you that does not only mean that you can’t root it or can’t replace the ROM, that also means you cannot even uninstall a bunch of apps that do whatever in the background!
I bet there is much more of these, but if I can I avoid installing anything new from the play store at all, so I don’t come across these apps. I live different technological lifestyle than most around me. most of my friends’ phones cannot be liberated or they are not interested in it because of the dangers, and honestly me neither in supporting an installation that may be unstable as is not rarely the case with lineage, so I rarely offer it. but sometimes I do and they like the idea, accepting that things like this may happen, and then it happens with yet another app I did not know about beforehand.
So, as I said, we need to look at the legal situation at the same time. The assholery of the bank is possible due to the assholery of these OS restrictions and the duopoly of mobile OSs. Everybody wants to have a walled garden. Outlaw or at least restrict walled gardens.
One thing politicians like to say is that they want to protect consumers. Forcing consumers into walled, privacy-invading gardens for essential services such as banking should be a change item on their agenda.
So looking at the status quo you’re correct. I’m just hopeful we can change that. I’m also looking at these mobile compute devices in our pockets as universal ones. They can run any instruction set that doesn’t burn their hardware. All of these restrictions - chipped components, unaltered OSs, software only from one place - are man-made/big corp imposed. With a view to a walled garden. That’s where the law needs to intervene so you can bank safely from where you want.