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Comment by jevoten | Hacker News Reader

Are you being glib, or do you genuinely believe the OS should subvert its user to appease a different group of people?

For many artists, not having their art copied would be an improved user experience, so should the OS prevent you from copying files tagged as copyrighted? Windows Defender already removes torrent software and gives scary warnings for LibreOffice [1] so it's not a big step.

[1] https://baronhk.wordpress.com/2021/09/13/microsoft-defender-...

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I'm choosing to install anti-cheat software into MY OS, on MY hardware, to improve MY gaming experience. The OS isn't subverting anything by allowing me to do that. I can't see how that's anything like your hypothetical. The anti-cheat software isn't being rolled into Windows for everyone in the globe, it's part of a voluntary, user-directed game installation on a specific computer.

If it's voluntary, then obviously cheaters are not going to install it. You choosing to install the anti-cheat software on your own computer will not magically stop people you play with from cheating. Therefore your whole argument goes out of the window.

It’s voluntary as installing the game is voluntary. You can’t opt out of the anti cheat tech yet opt into playing the online game. One might disagree with a part of the product (the anticheat part) but then one has to choose not to buy or use the product at all. It’s voluntary.

This is not a case of the OS subverting it's user, the user is installing Riot's anticheat of their own will. If you'd like Windows Defender to stop that, then you should be fine with the warnings it gives with those other apps too.

But that's just it - Riot's anti-cheat gets far fewer warnings than FOSS software, because MS has tilted the system to favor corporate entities willing to pay MS for certificates.

If a "trusted developer" is one of the heuristics, then any kind of honest anti-virus should trust major free software developers/apps to at least the same degree as someone like Adobe or Riot.

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