State Tyranny Is ALWAYS Worse Than Corporate Tyranny
4/3/2026
A few months ago, Google announced that in the name of "muh safety"™️, they will be severely limiting your ability to download apps on Android. This has justifiably caused a lot of anger amongst the more tech savvy side of the Android userbase. Afterall, for some of us, Android's openness is like the entire reason we even chose Android in the first place. Parallel to this, various state governments across the US have been proceeding with their next step in the Orwellian surveillance state being built in real time. A new law was passed in California which would require operating systems to store the user's age, with many other states introducing bills that are a carbon-copy of this California law. While both of these actions are a massive blow to tech privacy, there's a clear difference between Google's actions and the state's actions, and it's one that seems to go over many people's heads.
Fuck Google
Let's get something out of the way real quick. Many people on the left assume that libertarians like myself must be turbo simps for mega corporations, but this couldn't be further from the truth. If you've hung around any libertarian circles online, you will know how common it is for libertarians to start circle-jerking each other over how much they hate mega corporations. At some point I'll probably make a post about this topic but for the time being, just keep in mind when you're reading what I'm about to say next that I don't like Google as a company and I think 99% of their actions are actually evil. That being said...
Google's actions have workarounds
The privacy community has wasted no time finding solutions to Google's actions. For example, the privacy-oriented Android ROM "Graphene OS" announced right from the get-go that any attempts to lockdown Android made by Google would be reversed on their ROM. So within less than 24 hours, we already had a pretty good solution to this problem. Should the worst case scenario happen where Google just completely locks down Android and turns it into a shitter version of iOS, those of us who know how to plug a USB-C cable into our phone to change the OS will be in the clear. And if that wasn't good enough, the uproar caused by Google's announcement made Google backpedal.
The free market is the ultimate regulator
Despite what cynical commies online will say, companies ultimately do care slightly about their public image. Boycotts and campaigns do have an impact, and the slight course correction by Google is an example of that. So after a loud campaign in protest of Google's announcement penetrated through the horns covering the ears of Google's employees, Google responded to the backlash saying they'll have a way of disabling all the "muh safety" features so you can install whatever apps you want, just like you've always been able to do.
It's not a perfect solution by any means. I would rather not have to find an obscure setting on my phone and then wait 24 hours to be able to just install whatever the fuck I want on MY device that I paid for, but at least we avoided the worst case scenario. And sure, I have no doubt in my mind that Google will try again to lock down Android in the future once they've weathered the storm, but I'm also sure that whatever terrible decision Google does next, the privacy community will find a solution for it. Now let's contrast that with the age attestation laws being proposed and passed in every state.
Workarounds to attestation laws have harsher consequences
The main difference between finding a solution to Google's actions vs finding a solution to the state's actions is that noncompliance with the state's actions pose a greater risk to you.
Right now the Linux community is scrambling to see how they're going to deal with all of these age attestation laws. Some distros said they'll comply, others said they'll wait and see how the situation unfolds, and some have outright said they'll never comply. And while I appreciate the resilience, the fact of the matter is those distros who say they'll never comply will eventually crack when push comes to shove. Big distros like Ubuntu, Arch and Fedora have been getting a lot of shit by the Linux community for complying with these laws, and while I do think the big distros should be in the front lines in the battle against these laws, ultimately, I can't blame them for complying because remember, we're not dealing with a tech company threatening to cut them off, we're dealing with an entity which has the legal power to send a man to your house with a gun and shoot you in the head. Don't direct your anger at the people being aggressed against, direct your anger at the aggressor!
If Google locks down Android completely, there will be workarounds. We can install custom Android ROMs, we can jailbreak Android, we can find bugs to exploit, hell we could even just abandon Android entirely and try making Linux phones a thing. The worst case scenario is Google just prevents you from using their products.
If these age attestation laws don't get reversed, I'm sure the privacy community will create workarounds. I'm sure there will exist some obscure Linux distro that intentionally violates these laws which you can download off an i2p eepsite, but what if you get caught by the state? Well unlike with Google who at worst will just stop associating with you, if the state catches you violating their laws, the best case scenario is you just get hit with a hefty fine, but the worst case scenario is they just fucking kill you. That right there is the difference between state tyranny and corporate tyranny.