alt Hacker NewsIt was a catchy rethorical question. Desired emphasis on the fact that a smartphone is a computing device.
If you like to not be able to run whatever software you want on your computer, and the one your family owns, that's your thing.
Its another pretense, like disabling full disk encryption, where people came with these ideas (instead of other options), because its convenient to them to pretend its the right thing.
When systems scale you have to look at the effects in aggregate. Android is a tool used to manage billions of people’s finances. If you allow unreviewed apps, people get scammed by fake banking apps.
You might say people shouldn’t be so dumb, or that we should educate them, but the fact is that it happens. If you allow unreviewed apps, people get scammed at a higher rate. If you allow a backdoor, people get scammed at a higher rate. People still get scammed with app store review, but the difference between 1%, .9%, and .8% is millions of lives ruined.
I’m a hacker at heart and I like general purpose computers, but when a tool becomes essential, it can ruin lives. You have to consider your externalities. Otherwise you are a factory dumping pollution in the river.
This debate is an interesting collision between the well being of the general public versus a tiny, elite class (hackers) and their ideology.