This year we made good progress. You know, Linux gaming becoming better, Reddit fucking up, Metaverse failing etc. But on the other hand Big Tech has or are planning to make some moves. Such as, Google’s Web Enviroment Integrity API (EDIT: they backed off), UK’s encryption bill, etc.
So what do you think of the future? I’m currently optimistic. I think the best recent event was Reddit fucking up. Obviously one of the biggest information sources going down that path isn’t something to celebrate. But it was bound to happen. I believe decentralized social networks becoming more popular is what Aaron Swartz would have wanted if he saw how Reddit was being managed.
This strikes me as a best-vs-better situation. What is your solution to this problem that is actually plausible in the real-world this century?
Simple, we just have to force google to allow manufacturers to offer degoogled android on their phones which is what EU is doing: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/18/eu-fine-google-android-anti-competitive-behaviour-consumers
“Google is also ordered to stop blocking manufacturers from using so-called forked or modified versions of Android, such as Amazon’s Fire OS, if they want to use Google services on their other devices.”
Next they have to force google to allow alternative app stores preinstalled on devices and give them the same permissions play store has. With this you will be able to see truly open android actually available in stores. Companies like Mozilla (more probably some consortium like Mozilla/duckduckgo/Sony/LG/whatever) will be able to establish alternative app store that will actually compete with play store and offer same apps. We where close to this years ago buy google offered discounts to phone manufacturers that did not include other stores, made the system depend on their services and then punished companies that tried to compete by locking them out of those services. If EU manages to revert it and open up the platform we will have viable alternative that’s way better than the web. And it can happen real soon. That’s our best option at the moment.
This does indeed sound like the best approach. We’re not there yet and EU citizens need to push for this or it might not happen.