Hardware Attestation as Monopoly Enabler

The big fear lighting up the comments is simple: Apple and Google are quietly teaching the internet to ask, “Are you using one of our approved devices?” The article says both companies are spreading tools that let apps and websites check whether your phone is “trusted” hardware. To critics, that sounds less like safety and more like a velvet-rope club for the web — and the bouncers work for Silicon Valley.

That’s where the community absolutely went off. One commenter warned that dreams of an “open web” fall apart if everyday services end up locked behind Apple- or Google-approved gadgets. Another delivered the thread’s most nuclear hot take, blaming modern power grabs on cryptography itself and declaring its consequences “a disaster for the human race.” Subtle? Not exactly. Meanwhile, outrage swerved toward governments too, with commenters fuming that European Union countries are reportedly requiring these checks for payments, digital ID, and age checks. The mood was basically: wait, even the regulators are in on this?

And then came the repair-shop rebellion. One commenter argued society desperately needs a way to alter or fix modern chips after they leave the factory, basically saying our devices shouldn’t become sealed political objects. Another dropped a drier joke-proposal: maybe reCAPTCHA should be spun off into a nonprofit, a wry nod to how much gatekeeping now hides behind “security.” Translation: the commenters aren’t just worried about fraud prevention — they think this could decide who gets to fully participate online at all.