Eight prevailing themes from the thread
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Attestation reinforces lock‑in and threatens an open web
“This is a really good thread on _why this technology is becoming a problem for “open” anything.”_ — ChuckMcM -
Public will is overridden by corporate power
“So a vote happened, and when it didn’t go their way, huge company threatened a huge lawsuit that the township and citizens couldn’t afford, to get their way anyway. Standard corporate bullying tactic in America.” — ryandrake -
Remote attestation is used to enforce anti‑competitive control, not genuine security
“Attestation purports to prove the code is running on an ‘_approved’ device… but Google only lets its own certified devices pass.”_ — nullc -
Building decentralized alternatives is hampered by network effects
“In terms of headcount, and especially those who are working on this hostile stuff, Big Tech is not even that big compared to the rest of the population.” — userbinator -
Technical “solutions” like ZKP cannot salvage the underlying problem
“Hell yes. I was going to post the same comment. I don’t give a flying fuck how it’s implemented. Remote attestation is inherently evil.” — userbinator -
Activism matters, but political response is weak
“I wrote to the EU contact about this, got a patronising reply about how good it is, app being open source and what not.” — pjmlp -
Digital‑ID plans tie European sovereignty to US duopoly
“The EU Digital (identity) Wallet EUDI requires hardware attestation by Google or Apple, effectively tying all the digital EU identities to American duopoly.” — wgh (referencing the cited article) -
Alternatives exist but are blocked; support is needed
“I think it's an error to demand the alternatives be as good— they’re good enough to use.” — nullc