Today’s links An adversarial iMessage client for Android: Beeper Mini preserves end-to-end encryption and doesn’t require an Apple ID. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading An adversarial iMessage client for Android (permalink) Adversarial interoperability is one of the most reliable ways to protect tech users from predatory corporations: that’s when a technologist reverse-engineers an existing product to reconfigure or mod it (interoperability) in ways its users like, but which its manufacturer objects to (adversarial): https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability “Adversarial interop” is a mouthful, so at EFF, we coined the term “competitive compatibility,” or comcom, which is a lot easier to say and to spell. Scratch any tech success and you’ll find a comcom story. After all, when a company turns its screws on its users, it’s good business to offer an aftermarket mod that loosens them again. HP’s $10,000/gallon inkjet ink is like a bat-signal for third-party ink companies. When Mercedes announces that it’s going to sell you access to your car’s accelerator pedal as a subscription service, that’s like an engraved invitation to clever independent mechanics who’ll charge you a single fee to permanently unlock that “feature”: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/12/05/carmakers-push-forward-with-plans-to-make-basic-features-subscription-services-despite-widespread-backlash/ Comcom saved giant tech companies like Apple. Microsoft tried to kill the Mac by rolling out a truly cursèd version of MS Office for MacOS. Mac users (5% of the market) who tried to send Word, Excel or Powerpoint files to Windows users (95% of…Pluralistic: An adversarial iMessage client for Android (07 Dec 2023)