Post AcZTnRCyOC8v4fNc3M by pluralistic@mamot.fr
(DIR) More posts by pluralistic@mamot.fr
(DIR) Post #AcZTmfrOQbxEE7vDOK by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:38:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
#AdversarialInteroperability is one of the most reliable ways to protect users from predatory corporations: it's when someone reverse-engineers a product to reconfigure or mod it (interoperability) in ways its users like, but which its manufacturer objects to (adversarial):https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperabilityIf you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/07/blue-bubbles-for-all/#never-underestimate-the-determination-of-a-kid-who-is-time-rich-and-cash-poor1/
(DIR) Post #AcZTmgrmgdrTLd72dk by jiub@mstdn.social
2023-12-07T15:56:23Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@pluralistic In retrospect, it was a glorious period of time when essentially all chat protocols were reversed engineered and usable in third party clients. From roughly 2003-2013 I was able to contact basically everyone I knew with a single program (Trillian, then GAIM/Pidgin) no matter if they used AIM, MSN, or Google Chat.Now I have a half dozen messenger apps on my phone, and that's not even all of them. I hope reverse engineering and EU interop brings back the glory days of Pidgin.
(DIR) Post #AcZTn0eh71H4ip8s0u by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:39:32Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
"Adversarial interop" is a *mouthful*, so at @eff, we coined the term #CompetitiveCompatibility, or #comcom, which is a lot easier to say and to spell. Scratch any tech success and you'll find a comcom story. After all, when a company turns its screws on its users, it's good business to offer an aftermarket mod that loosens them again. 2/
(DIR) Post #AcZTn3OUvh6LDSaTgW by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:39:47Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
HP's $10,000/gallon inkjet ink is like a bat-signal for third-party ink companies. When Mercedes announces that it's going to sell you access to your car's accelerator pedal as a subscription service, that's like an engraved invitation to clever independent mechanics who'll charge you a single fee to permanently unlock that "feature":https://www.techdirt.com/2023/12/05/carmakers-push-forward-with-plans-to-make-basic-features-subscription-services-despite-widespread-backlash/3/
(DIR) Post #AcZTn6RRbCEyfSzNC4 by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:40:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Comcom saved tech giants like #Apple. #Microsoft tried to kill the Mac by rolling out a truly cursèd version of MS Office for MacOS. Mac users (5% of the market) who tried to send Word, Excel or Powerpoint files to Windows users (95% of the market) were stymied: their files wouldn't open, or they'd go corrupt. Tech managers like me started throwing the graphic designer's Mac and replacing it with a Windows box with a big graphics card and Windows versions of Adobe's tools. 4/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnABHhDguGVSWYq by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:40:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Comcom saved Apple's bacon. Apple reverse-engineered MS's flagship software suite and made a comcom version, #iWork, whose #Pages, #Numbers and #Keynote could flawlessly read and write MS's #Word, #Excel and #Powerpoint files:https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slayIt's tempting to think of iWork as benefiting Apple users, and certainly the people who installed and used it benefited from it. But *Windows* users *also* benefited from iWork. 5/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnCe4X9uHuMwXi4 by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:40:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The existence of iWork meant that Windows users could seamlessly collaborate on and share files with their Mac colleagues. IWork didn't just add a new feature to the Mac ("read and write files that originated with Windows users") - it also added a feature to *Windows*: "collaborate with Mac users."6/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnEuo5uTuwqmw4W by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:40:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Every pirate wants to be an admiral. Though comcom rescued Apple from a monopolist's sneaky attempt to drive it out of business, Apple - now a three trillion dollar company - has repeatedly attacked comcom when it was applied to *Apple's* products. When Apple did comcom, that was progress. When someone does comcom *to Apple*, that's piracy.7/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnH0YJWGXRFUYIy by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:40:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Apple has many tools at its disposal that Microsoft lacked in the early 2000s. Radical new interpretations of existing copyright, contract, patent and trademark law allows Apple - and other tech giants - to threaten rivals who engage in comcom with both criminal and civil penalties. That's right, you can go to *prison* for comcom these days. No wonder calls this #FelonyContemptOfBusinessModel:https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain8/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnJ8QPDke2FBrqy by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:41:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Take #iMessage, Apple's #EndToEndEncrypted (#E2EE) instant messaging tool. Apple customers can use iMessage to send each other private messages that can't be read or altered by third parties - not cops, not crooks, not even Apple. That's important, because when private messaging systems get hacked, bad things happen:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_celebrity_nude_photo_leak9/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnLD6gmgWTLOdQe by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:42:07Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
But Apple has steadfastly refused to offer an iMessage app for non-Apple systems. If you're an Apple customer holding a sensitive discussion with an Android user, Apple refuses to offer you a tool to maintain your privacy. *Those* messages are sent "in the clear," over the 38-year-old SMS protocol, which is trivial to spy on and disrupt. 10/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnNH50z3EsFGpto by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:42:21Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Apple sacrifices its users' security and integrity in the hopes that they will put pressure on their friends to move into Apple's walled garden. As CEO Tim Cook told a reporter: if you want to have secure communications with your mother, buy her an iPhone:https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tim-cook-says-buy-mom-210347694.html11/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnPL3LBPxH992My by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:42:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Last September, a 16-year old high school student calling himself #JJTech published a technical teardown of iMessage, showing how any device could send and receive encrypted messages with iMessage users, even without an #AppleID:https://jjtech.dev/reverse-engineering/imessage-explained/JJTech even published code to do this, in an open source library called #Pypush: https://github.com/JJTech0130/pypush12/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnRCyOC8v4fNc3M by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:42:52Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
In the weeks since, #Beeper has been working to productize JJTech's code, and this week, they announced #BeeperMini, an Android-based iMessage client that is end-to-end encrypted:https://beeper.notion.site/How-Beeper-Mini-Works-966cb11019f8444f90baa314d2f43a54Beeper is known for a multiprotocol chat client built on #Matrix, allowing you to manage several kinds of chat from a single app. 13/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnTFsmLetQGkxrk by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:43:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
These multiprotocol chats have been around forever. Indeed, iMessage started out as one - when it was called "iChat," it supported Google Talk *and* Jabber, another multiprotocol tool. Other tools like #Pidgin have kept the flame alive for decades, and have millions of devoted users:https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/07/tower-babel-how-public-interest-internet-trying-save-messaging-and-banish-bigBut iMessage support has remained elusive. 14/
(DIR) Post #AcZTndGFZptWSJ0OpM by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:43:33Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Last month, #Nothing launched #Sunchoice, a disastrous attempt to bring iMessage to Android, which used Macs in a data-center to intercept and forward messages to Android users, breaking E2EE and introducing massive surveillance risks:https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/21/23970740/sunbird-imessage-app-shut-down-privacy-nothing-chats-phone-2 15/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnfDqHl9mXPtVLs by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:43:47Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Beeper Mini does *not* have these defects. The system encrypts and decrypts messages on the Android device itself, and directly communicates with Apple's servers. It gathers some telemetry for debugging, and this can be turned off in preferences. It sends a single SMS to Apple's servers during setup, which changes your device's bubble from green to blue, so that Apple users now correctly see your device as a secure endpoint for iMessage communications.16/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnjbjyqeM8h6e9o by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:43:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Beeper Mini is now available in Google Play:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beeper.ima&hl=en_USNow, this is a companieshigh-stakes business. Apple has a long history of threatening companies like Beeper over conduct like this. And Google has a long history deferring to those threats - as it did with #OGApp, a superior third-party Instagram app that it summarily yanked after Meta complained:https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained17/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnmILzNvOTR3hr6 by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:44:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
But while iMessage for Android is good for Android users, it's also *very* good for *Apple* customers, who can now get the privacy and security guarantees of iMessage for *all* their contacts, not just the ones who bought the same kind of phone as they did. The stakes for communications breaches have never been higher, and #antitrust scrutiny on Big Tech companies has never been so intense.18/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnoTPtDxjEKFZNQ by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:44:19Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Apple recently announced that it would add #RCS support to iOS devices (RCS is a secure successor to SMS):https://9to5mac.com/2023/11/16/apple-rcs-coming-to-iphone/Early word from developers suggests that this support will have all kinds of boobytraps. That's par for the course with Apple, who love to announce splashy reversals of their worst policies - like their opposition to #RightToRepair - while finding sneaky ways to go on abusing its customers:https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently19/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnqOsj3WVCq8yaO by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:44:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The ball is in Apple's court, and, to a lesser extent, in Google's. As part of the mobile duopoly, Google has joined with Apple in facilitating the removal of comcom tools from its app store. But Google has also spent millions on an ad campaign shaming Apple for exposing its users to privacy risks when talking to Android users:https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/21/23883609/google-rcs-message-apple-iphone-ipager-ad20/
(DIR) Post #AcZTnsQNCTu9U2rCBk by pluralistic@mamot.fr
2023-12-07T13:44:32Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
While we all wait for the other shoe to drop, Android users can get set up on Beeper Mini, and technologists can kick the tires on its code libraries and privacy guarantees.eof/
(DIR) Post #AcaQGZU3O9VT4yCs6K by HodgesC@mas.to
2023-12-07T16:31:20Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jiub @pluralistic The switch from Gchat to Hangouts was a landmark moment in Googles enshittifcation - in hindsight. We ran the lab over Gchat (now we have to use Teams, in an indication of how bad things have got)
(DIR) Post #AcaQGawRy3obbKV408 by brandon@the-gathering.space
2023-12-07T19:07:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@HodgesC @jiub @pluralistic I remember hating the switch to hangouts. I think it just seemed slower/laggier, but I don’t remember all of the reasons I hated it. All of these new website “upgrades” where they look more fancy, but are slower, reduce the amount of info visible at once, and take more time to load remind me of the move. I guess it’s enshittification all the way down (up?).
(DIR) Post #AcaQGcKanmiluUnrGq by jbiserkov@mas.to
2023-12-08T00:03:39Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@brandon @HodgesC @jiub @pluralistic
(DIR) Post #AcaQJJeYhcv8qmQf4q by HodgesC@mas.to
2023-12-07T20:59:38Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@brandon @jiub @pluralistic you've picked up on a pet hate of mine. National Rail (UK)'s live departure boards used to have a clean but old fashioned table that loaded fast and didn't need scrolling. Now there's so much whitespace that after waiting to refresh the page I have to scroll to see more than one train.Progress?Oh, and the bastards have changed the structure. It used to use the station code in the URL, so remembering a few codes meant it was easy to check a few stations.