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Comment by rhacker | Hacker News Reader

I mean I don't see why this couldn't apply cart-blanche to all computers. I don't need to sign into MS, Mac to use the computers (though I do for my mac because of corp. policy).

It has been getting harder, but fuck, why not use this opportunity to turn this shit around?

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> why not use this opportunity to turn this shit around?

Because your proposed legislation would outlaw most IoT devices. This is, in fact, bad.

It's 100% possible to make electronics that do not require a connection to the Internet to function. That is, in fact, good.

It would just outlaw the easiest way to insure an IoT device is easily controlled and authenticated.

> Because your proposed legislation would outlaw most IoT devices.

Only if it were drafted carelessly. Which, yeah, plenty of laws are, but it's not a requirement.

You do need to sign into MS to use Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.

I get that, but that's software on the main device. I guess yes, wording such a law will be a crap and a half.

Not sure why this matters. Can you use an iPhone without entering an iCloud account? Can you use an Android without some G account? I honestly don't know as I've never tried skirting the system on my iDevices, an my only use with Android is in a dev environment, but I know that there were G accounts for these as well.

Why though? Why is that requirement there? Okay, it's nice for me to sync everything and have a seamlessly integrated ecosystem. But what if I have one device and just want to use Word on it and that's it?

It's a subscription, so they have to know it is you to know if you've paid your dues or not. MS is a bit sneakier though as they will allow you to open a document and make changes, but if you are not current in your subscription fees, they disable save functions. Been caught out on this a couple of times.

As it stands you need not sign into iCloud to use macOS or Microsoft Live to use Windows. Not sure what the law would even do.

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