Posting this (didn't find a previous post of it), because between...
- This
- Android requiring developer verification (partially reverted)
- Apple using TPM to lock you out of data on your own machine [1]
- Apple's slowly tightening security regime on macOS [2]
- I'll keep the list short but many more recent items from Apple and Google especially - less so Microsoft I think?
I've been noticing case-after-case of Big Tech security teams with good intentions locking down access points into software. It keeps malware authors out, but... it also keeps out developers, and also those who'd ship software that'd break into their lock-in.
Want to script Chrome for your users? Out. Want to import from or read their ChatGPT chats? Out. Want to ship them an app that does something Apple/Google-unapproved? Or that talks to or inspects other apps? Out.
It feels like Big Tech security teams are locking down software for yesterday's world – whilst each of them keeps and uses their own access – at a time when the opportunity to tinker with our computers is at an all-time-high.
[2]: If you'd told me in the early 2000s that I'd have to send every binary that'll run on someone else's computer to Apple first for it to not scare-screen them... at least SmartScreen/Chrome's approach are statistical and hash-based rather than having to receive a full copy of every such binary.
tekacs•2mo ago
Want to script Chrome for your users? Out. Want to import from or read their ChatGPT chats? Out. Want to ship them an app that does something Apple/Google-unapproved? Or that talks to or inspects other apps? Out.
It feels like Big Tech security teams are locking down software for yesterday's world – whilst each of them keeps and uses their own access – at a time when the opportunity to tinker with our computers is at an all-time-high.
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45663810
[2]: If you'd told me in the early 2000s that I'd have to send every binary that'll run on someone else's computer to Apple first for it to not scare-screen them... at least SmartScreen/Chrome's approach are statistical and hash-based rather than having to receive a full copy of every such binary.