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> If your computer can’t lie to other computers, then it’s not yours. And why is that not okay? I think this sort of attitude is left over from when computers
by skybrian 3y ago
> If your computer can’t lie to other computers, then it’s not yours.
And why is that not okay?
I think this sort of attitude is left over from when computers were expensive. Nowadays, I have multiple computers, some of which are fun toys I mess with, while others are appliances that I just use for their intended purpose. And that's fine, because when I screw up, maybe I don't want to have broken the computer that I use for video chats and to do my banking? Maybe I don't want my main phone to stop working?
It's okay to be a hacker and buy a router that you just use as a router and a Chromebook that you just use for web browsing. You can also buy a Raspberry Pi and mess with embedded programming on cheap devices. The appliance computers should be as low-maintenance as possible so you have more time for hacking.
The nice thing about really cheap devices like a Raspberry Pi Pico is that if you actually build something useful for real work, you can deploy it, stop messing with it, and buy another computer for experiments.
- MildRant 3y agoI don't understand the point you are trying to make and how it relates to the quote or the post as a whole.
- caslon 3y agoYour bank and the company that hosts your video chatting software should pay for the computer, if it isn't yours.
- skybrian 3y agoWhy? Even if you leased it, you're still paying for it in the end. You're benefiting from using it.
- the_lego 3y ago> Maybe I don't want my main phone to stop working? You are conflating the alleged benefit of locking down devices to assure users don't break them [1], with websites and services getting the ability to remotely verify your software/hardware stack is "approved", and block you if it isn't. It's not about what you want - it's about taking away your ability to choose. The "fun toys" that can be modified to your liking will get increasingly useless as they'll be blocked from large chunks of the web, especially after Google will start pushing WEI if sites want ad revenue, under the logic of preventing click-fraud. [1] There are plenty of ways to limit unlocking to the technically-savvy, and making it tamper evident to the owner (e.g. a "bootloader unlocked" notification during boot), and many existing phones implement them, so any claims by phone or other device manufacturers that making devices impossible to unlock are outright lies.
- JoshTriplett 3y agoYou're absolutely welcome to choose to have an appliance; for some purposes that may be desirable. Don't tell other people they can't have a general-purpose computer.
- skybrian 3y agoI didn't. I said it's okay to own non-general-purpose computers. The article claims it's not.