Bug report asking them to undo it: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2046154
“It does not mean Firefox can no longer be installed or run on non-certified or rooted Android devices, but it might mean that users on non-certified or rooted devices can’t access all AI features in Firefox for Android.”
🤣 nobody wants those features anyway. Good thing I use Vanadium and Ironfox though.
Well, sure. But think more ahead.
The same mechanic is already proposed by Google to lock things you DO care about. They are talking QR code walls presented to desktop browsers. Where you have to scan a QR code on a “trusted” device to pass the wall. Trusted by google of course, not by you. They want it anywhere teh web requires “trust”. Shopping, banking, access to gov services. Google has the muscle to drive it anywhere they want.
Ultimately that can put big parts of the web out of reach to your fav desktop browser. Ironfox? Waterfox? Boom, QR wall! Scan it on your google approved mobile device to proceeed! There would be fuck all your browser can do about it. Chain of trust required from a Google or Apple approved device. No chain of trust, no looky.
Would Goog/Appl ever go that far? IDK. I’m sure there would be anger. Maybe lawsuits. But think how tech illiterate ppl are now! Most ppl would not even realize anything was different! Their mass consumer devices still work. “Why are you using that weird browser on your nerd OS? It doesn’t even let you shop or bank lololol!”
That ignorance is what are are up against.
I guess I will be forced into being a hermit as I get older. What a bunch of horseshit.
We’ll be hermits together. All of us. And the hismits and the theymits too.
Pick a case: it’s hermits, hismits, theirmits (genitive) or it’s hermits, himmits, themmits (accusative).
That’s all kinds of fucked. Anybody who saw Microsoft Palladium and thought it was a good idea shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a computer.
What is/was microsoft Palladium?
A combination of secure boot, DRM, and remote attestation Microsoft proposed adding to Windows in the early 2000s. It was such an obvious corporate power grab that it got critical coverage from the New York Times.
Things like Google SafetyNet have been equally obvious corporate power grabs, but barely got negative coverage from the tech press, much less the mainstream media.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-Generation_Secure_Computing_Base
Things like Google SafetyNet have been equally obvious corporate power grabs, but barely got negative coverage from the tech press,
IMO, this might be b/c as tech spread into normal society, to everyday ppl, tech literacy has declined. On avg I mean, ofc there are still lots of smart, aware ppl. More than ever in raw numbers. But as a percentage, it’s less. Without a critical mass of people who understand the issues and care enough about them, big tech co abuses fly under the radar.
I kinda think that if MS tried Palladium today, they could succeed. Their power grab just came too early.
MS also tried to replace the open web with a MS proprietary technology. That also died b/c ppl pushed back. Today? They’d prob succeed if they said it was for everybody’s safety. “Oh… it’s for my safety. I guess that’s ok then.”
I kinda think that if MS tried Palladium today, they could succeed. Their power grab just came too early.
Honestly it’s that way with a lot of tech from back then. Bonzi Buddy got sued into bankruptcy for doing less than Facebook
