this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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You're not wrong, but users should then be held accountable if they fuck up their device. For example, if you decide to force companies to allow unlocking of bootloaders, and the user decides to flash something that they shouldn't, and the device bricks, whose fault is it?
Then they can just get it repaired, at a shop that has the flasher to re-flash the device. Cuz it's open source
And pay a shop to do it? Do you realistically think the average person is gonna be willing to do that? I think it's more likely they'll complain to the phone company about their bricked phone.
I also don't know enough, but is a bricked phone "fixable"? If it is, the person could do it themselves. But that's just one example. Other examples include installing unsafe OSes because social media said so. I don't think the average person is tech savvy enough to give them this kind of freedom.
This may be symptomatic of the issue being addressed. Would we be more willing to get the phone repaired if we felt more ownership of it? My hands are tied if the device was designed without repeatability in mind and the manufacturer has no intention of volunteering assistance - so I must complain. In our current system, we don't have many options to choose from. I look forward to your thoughts.
Also I believe 'bricked' is a result of it becoming inoperable. Our devices aren't easily repaired so they will become 'bricked' SOONER than if designed to run unlocked boot systems and OS's. Feeling more ownership of your device may lead you to be more careful with it and only entrust it with reputable technicians.
This very much depends. Are there technical ways to restore this? Something like a jumper to make the flash storage writable. This would be possible with access to the firmware source code. So yeah, they can fix it themselves. Who is responsible? If the device is bricked after this: the company.
Build locked up products? Die.
Build in fuses? Better make those chips accessible by providing the plans to build them, otherwise refund your customers and die. Now everyone can build them, this won't be a monopoly and everyone wins.