The point of #SoftwareFreedom was #TechnologicalSelfDetermination, the right of technology users to decide not just what their technology *does*, but who it does it *to* and who it does it *for*:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

The open source split from free software was ostensibly driven by the need to reassure investors and businesspeople so they would join the movement.

7/

When Apple says, "You can't install a third party app store on your phone," what they means is, "it's *illegal* to install that third party app store." It's not a *technical* countermeasure that stands between you and #TechnologicalSelfDetermination, it's a legal doctrine we can call "#FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel":

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

But the mighty US government will not step in to protect a company's business model unless it at least *gestures* towards the technical.

23/

There's plenty else WEI can do (it would make detecting #AdFraud much easier), but for every legitimate use, there are a hundred ways this could be abused. It's a technology purpose-built to allow rent extraction by stripping us of our right to #TechnologicalSelfDetermination.

52/

The #RightOfExit and the #FreedomOfReach (the principle that anyone can talk to anyone who wants to talk to them) are both key to #TechnologicalSelfDetermination. They are both imperfect and incomplete, but together, they are stronger, and form a powerful check on both greed and cruelty-based predation:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/19/better-failure/#let-my-tweeters-go

31/

Finally, Europeans shouldn't have all the fun. If Apple can do this for Europeans, it can do it for every Apple device owner. If you bought an Ios device, it's *yours*, not Apple's, and you should have the right to #TechnologicalSelfDetermination that Europeans get when it comes to deciding which software it runs.

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Image:
Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/files/banner_library/eu-flag-11.png

CC BY 3.0:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

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