Sideloading

Sideloading is a technofascist propaganda term for installing software on your computer or mobile phone from a source not owned by the operating system vendor (usually Google or Apple), or not "authorized" (approved) by them through a digital signature.

Big tech companies are increasingly restricting users' ability to run whichever software they like on their property that they paid for, as usual under the guise of "protecting the user", and fearmonger about the "dangers of sideloading".^[1] Apple has also given itself the ability to remotely delete already installed software from iPhones.^[2]

As usual, whenever a technofascist corporation decides to lock the end user (you) down more or install glorified backdoors, they do it with the usual "to protect you" excuse, and with the promise that they will "never abuse this". Google does this, Apple does this, Microsoft does this, all of big tech does this.^[3][4]

It's like pointing a gun and having your finger on the trigger but promising not to shoot. They want to convince you that "piracy is theft" and at the same time "buying isn't ownership".

In the United States, the Digital Millenium Copywrong Act (DMCA), which Bill Clinton signed into law without the consent of most Americans, has a clause that outlaws "circumventing copyright protection systems". This gives vendors the leeway to label anything as "copyright protection system", so people modifying the hardware that they paid for can be punishable by law.^[4][5]

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