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None of those platforms (Tesla, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, Samsung TV, Sony Camera) are general purpose computers. Your phone is a general purpose computer.
by rezonant 6y ago
None of those platforms (Tesla, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, Samsung TV, Sony Camera) are general purpose computers. Your phone is a general purpose computer.
For all of Google's faults, and there are many, it is still to this day possible to install any software I want on my Android phone. I recognize that in the wrong hands this can go wrong, but there should always be an escape hatch, even if that escape hatch is buried under a hundred "Warning what you are doing could be insecure" dialogs (and they should be).
That being said, things aren't all peachy on the Android side: My understanding is that third party app stores for instance rely on the user's phone being configured to accept code from unknown sources -- instead it should be possible to acquire a Store in a safe and secure way, and delegate to that store the ability to install software from that store, without requiring Unknown Sources to be on. Maybe this has changed recently, I hope someone will pipe up to correct me if it has!
- Despegar 6y ago>Your phone is a general purpose computer. This might be a useful distinction but it isn't for the law. There's no particular requirement that "general purpose computers" behave in a certain way.
- rezonant 6y agoI didn't say there was. Doesn't mean we shouldn't hold these vendors to account by not buying their products
- csande17 6y agoAt least on my phone, the "Install unknown apps" permission is per-source. So the F-Droid app is allowed to install software, but my web browser isn't. There still isn't a bulletproof way to download a new store in the first place, though -- I ended up temporarily granting "Install unknown apps" to my browser, downloading and installing the app from f-droid.org, then revoking the permission from my browser.
- rezonant 6y agoThis rings a bell. Glad to see there's some improvement here.