> How could side-loading be illegal? It's just software. A government could start by demanding that all smartphones sold in their territory disallow side-loadi

> How could side-loading be illegal? It's just software. A government could start by demanding that all smartphones sold in their territory disallow side-loading. That's obviously already the case for iPhones, and it would be a small "security update" to Android phones to prevent side-loading. As apps can detect which firmware version your phone is running, and whether the phone has been rooted, it's possible for phones to send cryptographically secured attestations to a government server that it is compliant with this new rule. Mobile networks can then block the IMEI numbers of phones which have side-loaded apps, or at least limit them to only sending/receiving calls and texts. That won't stop people using these chat services on laptops, for example, but within a few years it will be feasible to enforce a similar "trusted platform" condition on those too.