Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

I wrote apps last Tuesday
For my child named Susie
Parent control for all the kids around
We started to make some money
Then they Sherlocked me it's not funny
They wrote Screen Time and then they took us down

We have to jailbreak now, we have to jailbreak now
I told Apple right to its face
We didn't like to see this place
We have to jailbreak now

He wrote a game for poker
Pinochle, Whist and Euchre
But that Fortnite was his greatest game
Now he's downtown in court
Debating about his port
The judge done said that Apple's doing fine

He has to jailbreak now, he has to jailbreak now
I told him once or twice
That those app store rules aren't fair or nice
He has to jailbreak now

(With respect and apologies to the late, great Jimmie Rodgers)

I had a friend named Developer Jess
Who used to code for iOS
He thought he was the smartest guy in town
But I found out last Monday
His app got locked out Sunday
Compete with Apple and they'll take you down

He has to jailbreak now, he has to jailbreak now
I told him once or twice
That those app store rules aren't fair or nice
He has to jailbreak now

I really enjoyed chatting with @saronyitbarek and @joshpuetz for the #DevNews podcast this week. We talked about phone security, Freedom Phone, app store duopoly, and why I think modern phones are more like a nursing home than a walled garden. https://dev.to/devteam/activision-blizzard-discrimination-and-harassment-suit-the-incredible-gail-com-more-on-devnews-53j0

USB-C negotiation is like meeting a friend you don't know too well, and you awkwardly try to figure out whether to hug, shake hands, or fist bump, and just end up waving at each other.

Razor update: this Stahly is now my favorite razor even over my vintage Fat Boy and my unbranded German travel razor. Consistently smooth shaves every time.

Imagine if you could file a digital restraining order against tech companies. If a creepy person follows you any time you leave your house, looks through your mail, and watches you from the street whenever you're at home, you can legally make them stop. Why not companies?

"The Federal Trade Commission unanimously voted Wednesday to pursue policies that will make it easier for people to repair their own things." https://www.vice.com/en/article/k78xbn/ftc-formally-adopts-right-to-repair-platform

"Anonymized" location data, isn't. Catholic priest resigns after legally-obtained Grindr app data from a broker correlated location data with his and relatives' homes, his place of work, and gay bars. #privacy https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/07/catholic-priest-quits-after-anonymized-data-revealed-alleged-use-of-grindr/

I dislike when companies capitalize on incidents, so I usually publish my thoughts months later to avoid even the appearance. But folks asked us how @purism products fare against a Pegasus-like attack so I wrote about our overall spyware defense. https://puri.sm/posts/defending-against-spyware-like-pegasus/

If you want to support an musician, buy their album and go to their shows. If you want to support a writer, buy their book. Speaking from personal experience, subscription services that let you use content w/o buying it (like streaming), rips off creators. https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/21/07/18/1922249/music-streaming-inquiry-finds-pitiful-returns-for-performers

I should make clear that "something you are" factors have a place in authentication and an even bigger place in identification, and over time my opinions on where to use it has gotten more nuanced than can fit well on social media.

This new razor shaves even better than the other one! I think I might be a convert...

It's strange that we are solving the problem that people use the same passwords everywhere, by replacing passwords with unrevokable biometrics, that *have* to be the same everywhere to work.

Biometrics aren't secrets. It seems like "a good quality infrared image of the target's face" is hard to get right now only because the tech isn't ubiquitous yet. Wait until every website the user logs into has a copy. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/07/hackers-got-past-windows-hello-by-tricking-a-webcam/

I haven't been on call in many years but when I was, my alert was the song Le Freak. It just came on inside a store and my sysadmin PTSD came flooding back.