this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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Technically installing an app allows continuous spying instead of one-time offloading. It's an actual consideration with spyware like Pegasus: it might've been used as a bug to listen to offline conversations.
The OS is the spyware, they're ensuring you cannot remove it.
10 years ago I would have called that a stretch. After Windows 11, there is no doubt that Windows is spyware.
What % of users side load apps vs what % of users had someone else install a bug on their phone?
It's a situation that statistically doesn't happen, and now every legitimate user is being inconvenienced to stop it? This if like agree verification laws being sold as "protecting children" as an excuse to spy on and control people.
Oh really, so the Pegasus attacks on Galina Timchenko and dozens of other people, including Jamal Khashoggi, never happened? Or, do you seriously not understand that the impact on one journalist is greater than on thousands of nobodies like you?
Google could've implemented better measures to circumvent bugging, like iPhones' 'lockdown' mode, but claiming that infecting with spyware never happens on Android is plain disingenuous and idiotic.
"statistically doesn't happen" is not equivalent to "has never happened". It means the number of times it has happened is such a statistically insignificant % of the user base that it does not pass the smell test for being the reason to inconvenience every user.
That's nice. Now please evaluate the statistical utility of the CEO of an independent opposition-aligned media outlet, like Galina Timchenko, or journalist like Jamal Khashoggi, against an average phone user.
Perhaps a CEO of an independent opposition-aligned media outlet should be using more strict security measures far above what is necessary or even accessible to an average phone user.
Oh indeed, all journalists around the world should receive NSA training, then no regular user would ever suffer inconvenience to ensure their security: they would simply be cannon fodder for the police tracking their location around the clock and scammers vacuuming their contact info, no big deal.
The average user does not need the same level of device security and lock down as a CEO of an independent opposition-aligned media outlet. It's absurd that you seem to be arguing otherwise.