They could at least have the decency to just secretly do it and then pretend like they aren't, like our government does. This is why physical switches and removable batteries are the only way forward.
> This is why physical switches and removable batteries are the only way forward.
You'd gain nothing. What are you going to do, remove the battery for a couple hours per day?
And then if there's any crime, the police is going to immediately suspect anyone who had the battery removed from their cell phone at the time, which they can trivially detect.
I'd be willing to bet that less than half of this site's users are American. There is a huge software engineering community in Europe, for example, and there are more Europeans than Americans, let alone the large populations of Asia, Australia, New Zealand...
The US is the largest country with english speakers, but it does not have the majority of speakers [1] (just India plus Pakistan have as many). So your assumption would be wrong, even based on statistics.
That's why I qualified it with "native" - the US has by far the most English-as-a-first-language people. In my head everyone speaks like an Anglo guy from Idaho, and since HN is text-only, metaphorically speaking the lights are out, so I'm left without a clue where other people are sitting or where they are from.
In other words, if you found yourself in a dark room with a thousand English speakers who all sounded like Jesse Pinkman, what country would you assume you were in?
I'd be willing to bet that less than half of this site's users are American. There is a huge software engineering community in Europe, for example, and there are more Europeans than Americans, let alone the large populations of Asia, Australia, New Zealand...
English is the dominant second language in the world.
I would agree with that, at least for this site. I wouldn't be surprised if the ratio was 1 to 10, since tech skews it significantly. For example, I work in tech in the US, and the only American I've spoken to today was my summer intern, and - oh hold up, I just typed that and realized she's from Canada. OK, I've been in work meetings all day and I have not spoken to a "US American" during that time. I suspect that other sites, particularly some subreddits, are mostly American, though.
Personally I think that "X is an American site" is over-used and doesn't actually make all that much sense when applied to things that cover general world-spanning issues.
I wrote a stupid message first that the person above you replied to accurately, I changed my stupid message to be less stupid while still reflecting my opinion on the matter.
What relevance does that have to the question, may I ask. Do you think, for example, that every user of Twitter is American because Twitter is an American company?!
they have no doubt been doing it, they're just using the panic of a brainwashed population thinking they're on the brink of Islamic revolution to normalize it
I feel it's significantly better to know that someone is doing the spying and all that. Why should they hide that they can spy on whoever they choose? When they don't make clear what happens, we end up in a position where everyone's uncertain. And, as history has shown, it makes things significantly more difficult.
Or making the phone more reliable, particular in high-humidity climates, where you want to prevent air from getting to the electronics as much as practical.
Meh, phones with removable batteries are still being made. Samsung's Galaxy Cover line has plenty of phones with removable batteries. Some even feature the much feared IP68.
You'd gain nothing. What are you going to do, remove the battery for a couple hours per day?
And then if there's any crime, the police is going to immediately suspect anyone who had the battery removed from their cell phone at the time, which they can trivially detect.