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There are plenty of workarounds, but the issue is that when you want to pass quality control you have to play by they platform owner's rules. While not always n

There are plenty of workarounds, but the issue is that when you want to pass quality control you have to play by they platform owner's rules. While not always nice on one hand, on the other hand this does mean that most users will be safe to install most software checked and distributed that way, without needing the intimate knowledge we have. I totally understand that if Apple builds and maintains a PKI-based security model, they are going to want to check your stuff before allowing you in. If, on the other hand, the user doesn't care, they can simply turn off the security model or adjust it.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago
> they can simply turn off the security model or adjust it. I'd very much like to know what this involves. I'll feel better knowing how it can be done. If you have a link that would be great!
- maxmunzel 8y ago
  Google for macOS gatekeeper
  - mosselman 8y ago
    DuckDuckGo is a better option with regards to privacy ;). Since this is a topic on VPN software.
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    Oh, if disabling Gatekeeper is all it takes, then cool. I was worried there was some new system...
- oneplane 8y ago
  There are multiple ways and levels. The easiest is gatekeeper, which lives in the security settings. Next is SIP, which is a deeper layer (also PKI based) which cannot be changed while booted (which is a very good security model). You can only change this preboot or in the recovery environment. At that point, you may choose to disable SIP completely, or just parts of it (done using the csrutil). For an easier preboot option, you can use something like rEFInd/rEFIt to do this whenever you feel like it from a small preboot application. Security-wise, that can be problematic, and I suggest you turn on EFI password authentication so it's not something everyone can do to your machine. This means you can still change the SIP settings on-demand per boot using a USB stick with rEFInd on it, but doing that requires you to chain boot off of that USB drive and doing that triggers EFI protection and requires a password before you can do that. Normal boot would not require a password and lets you use the system as-is.
fauigerzigerk 8y ago
The problem is that on iOS Apple's "quality control" includes banning normal and fun human activities such as sex. If that is now coming to the Mac as well then I will stop being Mac user and I will move away from Apple's platforms altogether. Requiring Apple's permission to run WireGuard automatically means requring the permission of the government as well. You don't even have to resort to China to see why that is bad. Many western governments are aggressively working towards banning various forms of encrypted communications.
- Fnoord 8y ago
  > The problem is that on iOS Apple's "quality control" includes banning normal and fun human activities such as sex. While being totally OK with (gun) violence. Hello, double (American) standard. Keep that double standard in the US. I don't want it in the EU. Thank you.
- oneplane 8y ago
  That's not their quality control you are referring to but the content guidelines (censor). It's a choice they are free to make, and are probably mostly copied off some American idea on what should be public or not. The problem you are running in to is that your ideas don't match their ideas and you want them to match your ideas (which they won't because they don't live in your world, they live in their world, which at this time is mostly the USA world). If in your country the government would enforce some law stating that companies should not block sex in their content pipelines, then Apple, just like they do in every other country, will comply. This is also the reason they censor stuff in China, it's the law over there. So while their ideas and values might not match with you, they do still have to follow the law. If you believe companies with a large impact should not block certain information from flowing, that is something you can enforce by law. A company has to deal with the law, and cannot go and be an anarchist whenever it feels like it (but people can) because then they cease to exist.
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    If Apple did not block sideloading on iOS, they wouldn't practically be able to implement this kind of censorship in China and elsewhere. They would be able to remove it from the App Store, but people would be able to acquire the software via other means. (This topic doesn't really apply to macOS though, just iOS.)

Wowfunhappy 8y ago

> they can simply turn off the security model or adjust it. I'd very much like to know what this involves. I'll feel better knowing how it can be done. If you have a link that would be great!

maxmunzel 8y ago
Google for macOS gatekeeper
- mosselman 8y ago
  DuckDuckGo is a better option with regards to privacy ;). Since this is a topic on VPN software.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  Oh, if disabling Gatekeeper is all it takes, then cool. I was worried there was some new system...
oneplane 8y ago
There are multiple ways and levels. The easiest is gatekeeper, which lives in the security settings. Next is SIP, which is a deeper layer (also PKI based) which cannot be changed while booted (which is a very good security model). You can only change this preboot or in the recovery environment. At that point, you may choose to disable SIP completely, or just parts of it (done using the csrutil). For an easier preboot option, you can use something like rEFInd/rEFIt to do this whenever you feel like it from a small preboot application. Security-wise, that can be problematic, and I suggest you turn on EFI password authentication so it's not something everyone can do to your machine. This means you can still change the SIP settings on-demand per boot using a USB stick with rEFInd on it, but doing that requires you to chain boot off of that USB drive and doing that triggers EFI protection and requires a password before you can do that. Normal boot would not require a password and lets you use the system as-is.

fauigerzigerk 8y ago

The problem is that on iOS Apple's "quality control" includes banning normal and fun human activities such as sex. If that is now coming to the Mac as well then I will stop being Mac user and I will move away from Apple's platforms altogether. Requiring Apple's permission to run WireGuard automatically means requring the permission of the government as well. You don't even have to resort to China to see why that is bad. Many western governments are aggressively working towards banning various forms of encrypted communications.

Fnoord 8y ago
> The problem is that on iOS Apple's "quality control" includes banning normal and fun human activities such as sex. While being totally OK with (gun) violence. Hello, double (American) standard. Keep that double standard in the US. I don't want it in the EU. Thank you.
oneplane 8y ago
That's not their quality control you are referring to but the content guidelines (censor). It's a choice they are free to make, and are probably mostly copied off some American idea on what should be public or not. The problem you are running in to is that your ideas don't match their ideas and you want them to match your ideas (which they won't because they don't live in your world, they live in their world, which at this time is mostly the USA world). If in your country the government would enforce some law stating that companies should not block sex in their content pipelines, then Apple, just like they do in every other country, will comply. This is also the reason they censor stuff in China, it's the law over there. So while their ideas and values might not match with you, they do still have to follow the law. If you believe companies with a large impact should not block certain information from flowing, that is something you can enforce by law. A company has to deal with the law, and cannot go and be an anarchist whenever it feels like it (but people can) because then they cease to exist.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  If Apple did not block sideloading on iOS, they wouldn't practically be able to implement this kind of censorship in China and elsewhere. They would be able to remove it from the App Store, but people would be able to acquire the software via other means. (This topic doesn't really apply to macOS though, just iOS.)