The only thing this makes impossible is the laziest, and easiest to bypass method of filtering the internet.
Given that it's pretty much the norm that consumer embedded devices don't respect the owner's wishes network level filtering is the best thing a device owner can do on their own network.
It's a mess.
I'd like to see consumer regulation to force manufacturers to allow owners complete control over their devices. Then we could have client side filtering on the devices we own.
I can't imagine that will happen. I suspect what we'll see, instead, is regulation that further removes owner control of their devices in favor of baking ideas like age or identity verification directly into embedded devices.
Then they'll come for the unrestricted general purpose computers.
Along similar lines, a security hole you can use for jailbreaking is also a security hole that could potentially be exploited by malware. As cute as things like "visit this webpage and it'll jailbreak your iPhone" were, it's good that that doesn't work anymore, because that is also a malware vector.
I'd like to see more devices being sold that give the user control, like the newly announced GrapheneOS phones for instance. I look forward to seeing how those are received.
That's what I do. That means large swaths of potentially interesting "smart" devices are unavailable to me (since they won't work without Internet access and I'm unable to inspect their traffic). I'm not too heartbroken about it, but it does make me a little sad that I don't get to use some of this "we're living in the future" tech.
> ...devices are right to not allow MITMing their traffic and to treat that as a security hole...
> ...a security hole you can use for jailbreaking is also a security hole that could potentially be exploited by malware...
Yes. Complete agreement. Devices are right not to allow unauthorized parties to MiTM their traffic, tinker w/ their innards, etc. I would never suggest otherwise.
Owners, with physical access, should be permitted to MITM the traffic, tinker with the innards, etc. They're authorized parties.
Device manufacturers should compelled by regulation to allow device owners, with physical access, to examine and manipulate the device internals. I'm thinking of the "developer mode" physical switches on Chromebook devices. If I own it I should have the same access to the device the manufacturer does.
If a manufacturer's business / security model isn't compatible with this regulation the manufacturer should be required to deal with any e-waste concerns and it should clearly be marketed as a rental and not a sale.
None of this will ever happen. I know I'm tiling at windmills. The tech world will continue to get more locked-down, the public will lose unfettered access to general purpose computers, and the personal computer revolution will become a distant memory. We already lost and could never really win because "normies" don't care about this stuff.
I would be generally in favor of this. I don't like the idea of forbidding building a device that's locked down; there are potential use cases for such a thing. I do like the idea of saying "either allow tinkering or you are subject to numerous other things, like warranty / liability laws".
As brought up in another thread on the topic, you have things like web browsers embedded in the Spotify app that will happily ignore your policy if you're not doing external filtering.
I guess it (network-level filtering) just feels like a dragnet solution that reduces privacy and security for the population at large, when a more targeted and cohesive solution like client-side filtering, having all apps that use web browsers funnel into an OS-level check, etc would accomplish the same goals with improved security.
You could have cooperation from everyone to hook into some system (California's solution), which I expect will be a cover for more "we need to block unverified software", or you could allow basic centralized filtering as we've had, and ideally compel commercial OS vendors to make it easy to root and MitM their devices for more effective security.
Rather than “get over” it I think we need to fight. You seem to insist that monitoring/control is a done deal and we only need to argue about the form it takes, but this is not correct. Centralized monitoring/control can be resisted and broken through a combination of political and technical means. While you may not want this, I do. (And many others are being swayed back in my direction as they start to feel the effects of service enshittification, censorship under the guise of “fighting misinformation”, and media consolidation.)
At least in the US, what happens outside of your network is mostly irrelevant (except perhaps that free, open wifi should be liable for any lack of filtering). Centralized (as in e.g. government) control is non-existent, and centralized monitoring is easily defeated if you'd like with a variety of methods (though like I said we could have laws against the monitoring).