They aren’t that far off with UEFI and secure boot. I remember that there was a legit scare in the Linux community that community distros might be left behind.
And you are also overlooking what’s already happening on Android, you might still be able to run a custom FW but some apps just refuse to work. I could see regulations demanding that all adult apps require a signed firmware as a start. Many of the EU identity attestation apps already don’t work on custom FW and might only have option or two in your country. Many government services will be a lot harder to access if at all without those ID apps, already the case for some services.
And no the EU doesn’t truly care to get digital sovereignty, or they wouldn’t require ID apps that require google attestation. We already know the US government digitally sanctions people and turns of their digital access to US services they need.
They aren’t that far off with UEFI and secure boot. I remember that there was a legit scare in the Linux community that community distros might be left behind.
And you are also overlooking what’s already happening on Android, you might still be able to run a custom FW but some apps just refuse to work. I could see regulations demanding that all adult apps require a signed firmware as a start. Many of the EU identity attestation apps already don’t work on custom FW and might only have option or two in your country. Many government services will be a lot harder to access if at all without those ID apps, already the case for some services.
And no the EU doesn’t truly care to get digital sovereignty, or they wouldn’t require ID apps that require google attestation. We already know the US government digitally sanctions people and turns of their digital access to US services they need.