I'm saying they could, and could have had these for a while, they may have a few ones that they were sending just to check if the US would detect them, they may have some on the go as a permanent operation, just like a patrol. I would say that's unlikely, because the risk of getting caught was probably perceived as bigger than the benefit of having a strike opportunity. But as several others said before: sea traffic is barely checked.
And another option is they already have some drones hidden on US soils and dormant agents ready to launch them.
When you say it can't happen, you understand that Russia does it in Europe regularly, right? Once in a while, they will even send drones flying above cities, airports, military bases, etc. just to see if they trigger any kind of response.
Some Russian drones fly over Europe from time to time, to test the defences and/or gather intel. They launch from vessels that look civilians, sail under a third party flag, and transport legit goods to further confuse investigations.
Ukraine did a remarkable strike deep inside Russia by having their attack drones carried in a truck driven by a Russian driver who had no clue what he was carrying.
So the drones may have been dispatched some time ago and could very well be on US soil waiting to be activated, or they could be transported on any vessel around.
After the initial amazement, reason kicked back in: of course there would be an app for that, and of course some people would use it and share their intimate life with a company they know nothing about, because it has a bold line "We value your privacy" somewhere on its website.
As long as they don't encounter any resistance, they have no reason to renounce their enshittification process.
Will the sales slow because of this? Unlikely. I would assume the power users are in the noise.
Will they make more money? Probably, either through their own data collection and brokerage, or from third party editors paying to have their app bundled in the OS.
I'm tired of people falling for this kind of shit every single fucking time.
Authoritarianism is never passed through a bill overnight. It's one step in the wrong direction after another, multiplied N times.
This is a step in the wrong direction. After that you're one step away from "improving the verification" and you would reject that step only if you have nothing bad to hide.
Do you remember when it was only a few cameras to evaluate their efficiency? Now they're everywhere and are to use AI for behavior assessment and face recognition.
Years ago, they were the go to solution for databases. No CIO would ever be fired for picking Oracle over competitors regardless the pain that would follow, same as having Windows as the OS on all employees computers.
If there's an issue with the world's most popular solutxon: "Shits happens, we all know", if there's an issue with that alternative solution: "You see what bappens with your toy-thing? Let's be professional and use a professional solution!".
Years have passed, the alternative slowly made a name for themselves, but OracleDB didn't evolve much because of inertia and the high maintenance that locks existing customers.
So now they're going all-in on data centres for AI, that means to me the end is near.
At some point, rest-of-the world will mandate a vaccine proof from US travelers, because you know: that backward country with people carrying disease...
Err... were they? I remember vulnerabilities and a ban from SOME of the US gov agencies, but not clear if it was because of spying concerns or because they wanted a US supplier.
Whatsapp wants to make absolutely sure everyone in the world can be free of censorship on their app and therefore free to put oneself under a 24/24 tight surveillance under their app.
First they will introduce age "non-real-check", then they will enforce the check: you have accepted the principle, so what's the big deal if we actually check it?
Framasoft is not so much about providing the service itself, they have limited resources, but to show alternatives exist and are usable. They develop some of the tools (we own them Peertube!).
So they host services, and sometimes end them (with ample warning and instructions to migrate). As they explain: their goal is not to become an "open Google". It's to to make de-googling possible and usable by the many.
As service providers, you should look into the CHATONS.
I'm saying they could, and could have had these for a while, they may have a few ones that they were sending just to check if the US would detect them, they may have some on the go as a permanent operation, just like a patrol. I would say that's unlikely, because the risk of getting caught was probably perceived as bigger than the benefit of having a strike opportunity. But as several others said before: sea traffic is barely checked.
And another option is they already have some drones hidden on US soils and dormant agents ready to launch them.
When you say it can't happen, you understand that Russia does it in Europe regularly, right? Once in a while, they will even send drones flying above cities, airports, military bases, etc. just to see if they trigger any kind of response.