You can minimize surveillance, but right now it’s impossible to avoid it completely. The next best thing is is keeping whatever you can private, and what you can’t, try to have it sent to someone irrelevant, like in my case are the Chinese.

I wonder where you’re getting this information. BYD alone is second worldwide if you account for the US market, and 1st if you don’t.

59% of all EVs sold in January of this year were Chinese.

China can have all the images they want from my car’s. I don’t live in China or anywhere near them. I’m more concerned about US made EVs and their surveillance because I travel there regularly, and they are digging hard on everything for people coming into the US.

That’s halfway true, depending on the part, and where you live. But the warranty they provide (at least in my country) covers everything that you don’t damage yourself, and the warranty is transferable if you sell it still being under warranty.

The only expense I’ve had with mine are new tires and correcting some body scratches caused by other people (and public charging if on long road trips, because I charge at home with solar power).

We have 2 BYD plug-in EVs in our house, absolutely delighted with the brand. Before that I had a Model 3 Tesla, which I could not get rid of fast enough.

Honor where honor is due, Tesla did open the door for mainstreaming EVs, there’s no doubt about it, but it was through marketing based on gimmicks, not through quality products. But the reality is that BYD, Xiaomi, Avatr and a few other Chinese manufacturing cars are way better value and even quality than their Occidental counterparts.

Next we’ll see all US cops wearing masks in their regular day to day activities, like in the Watchmen series.

If you don’t understand the concept of cancel culture, there’s not much I can explain, sorry.

Point in case. The moment I mentioned it, the down votes started pouring in.

Humanity has lost the capacity for critical thinking and civil communication.

It blows my mind how comments that don’t fit the narrative of the liberals get down voted to doom and canceled, by the same groups that want “equality”, but only if it’s their definition of equality.

I’m all for equality, which is why I can’t stand left-wingers or right-wingers. They’re all full of shit.

Pepperidge farm remembers, and so do I. Lots of people I know use XMPP (Cheogram, Dino, etc).

These companies are really seeing how far they can get away with shit. It’s mind blowing.

Wao, did you not read what I said? No app store is inherently safer or more dangerous than any other. They all require some level of trust, plus trust in the devs of the apps available on each store.

About freedom, nobody is taking anything away from you, other than Apple. Again, if you want to remain in their ecosystem exclusively, nobody is going to force you to use alternative app stores. However, your argument does go entirely against choice, the same choice you claim I am soiling with my comments.

We do agree on 1 thing, when someone buys an Apple product, there’s a very good chance that they want that walled garden. Then there’s those that did not buy from Apple, but had no option other than an iPhone, some of those I can guarantee that they hate being controlled by the company that manufactured what is supposed to be theirs.

If you can’t do everything you want with what you bought and paid for, is it really yours?

I suggest that you look at the current status of technology in the world right now. You do not own your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Same with most Android devices and Windows computers. They force shit into the users, to the point that you will lose functionality if you were to disable most of what’s in the devices.

Sure, Android is a bit more flexible, but other than GrapheneOS, CalyxOS or LineageOS, it’s the same crap as iPhone, locking you to have apps forcibly, whether you like or use them or not. The only difference is that in Android you do have the ability to use other stores.

Enjoy your locked iPhone, and let those who want more choice just have the choice.

Vanadium is what works best for me in this area.

During the Biden administration I should have gone to the US over 25 times, and 3 more during Trump’s new term, and not once have they asked me for anything other than “how long are you here for” and “what’s the purpose of your trip”.

I guess I’m lucky, because I don’t have a single mainstream social media account.

But this also happens in the official stores as well. While it does happen less in ios than in android, the fact remains that it happens in official stores ss much as I alternative stores, which makes this argument irrelevant at best.

Again, I can understand where you come from, but it’s been proven, time and again, that using apps from the main app store (ios or Android, doesn’t matter) is not inherently safer or more dangerous than getting apps from other stores. The problems are the apps not the stores. Additionally, I have yet to see any company, institution or organization publish apps exclusively in alternative app stores,which means that, as far as I’m aware, every app “needed” will be in the platforms own store, which means that nobody has to get an alternative app store if they don’t want to.

These facts render your arguments to block giving owners of devices options completely invalid.

Yes, if you feel safer with the platforms’ default stores, you’re free to remain there and avoid anything else, as this is your device, and therefore your choice. But these arguments you bring take away CHOICE for absolutely no good reason.

You are missing the point. If you want to remain in the Apple infrastructure exclusively, nobody is forcing you not to. Those who want options will have them. So enjoy your walled garden all you want, and let each user decide if they want to keep being tools or not.

I have 2 numbers with them, no regrets. So far the service has been flawless (except where I have spotty data services or crappy wifi). Absolutely worth it.

I’ve been off of WhatsApp for about 7 years. My only communication options with everyone else are phone calls or Signal, and for those that will not use at least signal, we’ll, you can always call me.

I have arcane chat, but only 1 friend of mine from church uses it with me.

Last windows I used was 10,and I’ve always found it lacking in the screen capture arena. Full disclosure, I had no idea Flameshot had a windows version.