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Comment by echelon | Hacker News Reader

If you support Apple and Google in their claims to 30% of the profit, then you support Comcast charging an additional fee for Netflix.

If you support Apple and Google having locked down authoritative control over the code run on their devices, then you support the Great Firewall.

The only choice of a free and open society, and one mindful of the great benefit of open source and open platforms, is to remove these companies from executive control of mobile platforms. They must become free and open, just like the web.

They're sucking all of the air out of the room. It kills freedom, diversity, and progress. It's rent-seeking.

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Not sure why you're throwing Google in with Apple, on Android you can install third party apps if you so desire, including third party app stores.

On ios you can't.

If you support Apple and Google in their claims to 30% of the profit, then you support Comcast charging an additional fee for Netflix.

And guess what? I don’t have to use Comcast.

> And guess what? I don’t have to use Comcast.

Pretending everyone has that choice not to.

They definitely don’t have to buy Netflix through Comcast.

I'm legitimately curious what your solution is to sign up for Netflix if you can't use your ISP (Comcast, likely a monopoly with no alternatives).

I can't imagine calling up Netflix and attempting to sign up via telephone is feasible, nor is explaining to the average consumer the price is different because they're on wifi instead of data (and only their wifi, or select locations that use Comcast).

Someone said that Comcast charges more if you buy Netflix through them. Comcast does offer Netflix as an add on. You don’t have to buy Netflix as an add on through Comcast.

> I don’t have to use Comcast.

You're one of the lucky ones.

Actually, one of the criteria for buying a house was buying in an area that was served by AT&T Fiber.

Apple retaining 30% on the store is fascism, but the open web is a utopia? This argument completely ignores the reality of the situation. One of the greatest abusers of the open web is Facebook who tracks users on almost every site and infringes on the privacy of everyone despite whether of not you hold an account.

I'm not interested in Facebook, TikTok, or the next VC social media company, getting native, unfettered access to hardware on my phone or anyone around me where they would be free to run the GPS 24/7. That's the reality of the "open web" today.

> the open web is a utopia?

It's pretty great afaict.

> One of the greatest abusers of the open web is Facebook who tracks users on almost every site and infringes on the privacy of everyone despite whether of not you hold an account.

Another area where we should exercise legislative action to protect Americans.

> I'm not interested in Facebook, TikTok, or the next VC social media company, getting native, unfettered access to hardware on my phone

You're ignoring the great strides we've made, and continue to make, in sandboxing.

I'd rather these developments happen out in the open, too.

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