I was calling them “loopholes” in the quotation marks because that is how governments could frame it in the future.
You are correct that open source technology does and will continue to exist. But devices can and I suspect will become more locked down, or at least there will be pressure to move in that direction.
Apple already has tight restrictions about what is allowed in their phones App Store. They would also comply with any government directives about what is or is not allowed to be made freely available in their app stores (such as a hypothetical future ban on browsers). Maybe it is possible to jailbreak an iPhone or side load apps but how many people do you know that would do this? Do you know anyone who has ever put an app on their iPhone that they did not download off the Apple App Store? The google play store will be no different but at least android is more open.
Login to reply