Of course you should. It's my device, I should be able to do what I want with it. The default should be protected but root should be available.
But that's not what this is about. Apple has been enforcing these rules for years. F.lux tried to get around the App Store by reaching users how to sideload via Xcode. Apple killed it.
The big players should be subject to the same rules. If they want to run their own code, they can't just flagrantly ignore Apple's TOS.
I'm also onboard with the Nielsen metaphor but not for kids. And both were scummy in targeting kids (though FB was definitely worse judging from marketing materials).
Specifically, Apple killed it because f.lux decided to distribute their app in a really sketchy manner where they essentially pushed an opaque binary blob to the phone rather than compiling the app from source and installing the build product from that.
That's what Apple is doing here. Pushing iPhone as a commodity, not a replacement for your macbook. This way they get the benefits of controlling the experience as much as they want. (I am not saying it is right or wrong, just that many people are fine with commodity phones and don't care for the loss of configurability).
Now, _will_ I do that? Probably not, but my opinion is that as the owner of the device, I should have the ability to do so if I so choose.
And what about the manufacturer? Why should it be their legal responsibility to satisfy your whims for programmable interfaces?
Not to mention what you're mentioning that what you're suggesting will make the iPhone incredibly insecure.
Regarding security, that very much depends on your threat model and definition of "secure". Indeed, I see this general trend of decreasing user control over increasingly complex and connected hardware as a massive security threat where I am forced to trust multiple 3rd parties who may arbitrarily disrupt my life anytime new "features" or "policies" get pushed out.
It is perfectly possible to securely implement a tamper-evident "I know what I'm doing" switch/fuse that enables advanced control by device owners. However, I'm well aware that I'm in the minority on this topic, so I'm not holding my breath for such features to be implemented.
Yes. It is within my full legal right to install whatever programs I want on my washing machine.
Apple lost a bunch of lawsuits, when it tried to sue people for doing this. The courts proved that yes, you do have a legal right to do whatever you want with hardware that you own.
That said, I doubt washing machine microcontrollers use signed code. It's easier to modify them than your phone which is completely backwards.
How do you protect against that backdoor being used by hostiles?