It's not just market forces. Computers are actually too subversive for the powers that be to allow mere citizens to have them.
Give citizens computers and they have encryption. This alone gives them a fighting chance against police, judges, three letter agencies, militaries.
Give citizens computers and they can wipe out entire sectors of the economy via the sheer power of unrestricted copying.
The future is bleak. Computer freedom is dying. Everything then word "hacker" ever stood for is dying. Soon we will no longer have our own systems, we will have no control, we will be mere users of corporation and government systems. Hacking will go extinct, like phreaking.
This fact brings me a profound sadness, like something beautiful is about to perish from this earth. We used to be free...
Alright this might be taking things a little too far… the free software movement is stronger than it’s ever been and hardware is also more accessible than it’s ever been. Losing this one company is simply not a death bell of the entire enthusiast computing market.
Give citizens computers and they have encryption. This alone gives them a fighting chance against police, judges, three letter agencies, militaries.
Give citizens computers and they can wipe out entire sectors of the economy via the sheer power of unrestricted copying.
The future is bleak. Computer freedom is dying. Everything then word "hacker" ever stood for is dying. Soon we will no longer have our own systems, we will have no control, we will be mere users of corporation and government systems. Hacking will go extinct, like phreaking.
This fact brings me a profound sadness, like something beautiful is about to perish from this earth. We used to be free...