If the wireless chip is separate from the rest of the circuitry, one choice is to deactivate it by looking up its datasheet and cutting the pin that provides the chip with power. However, if BIOS/EFI waits for "OK" signal from the wireless chip and cannot bypass it, then that's not an option. And if it's a "ball grid array" chip - soldered connections under the chip instead of its sides - disabling it without breaking anything else can be next to impossible as well.
I think that government regulation is the only long-term solution for the problem. I'd phrase it as something like "Users should have, at all times, full and complete control over communication capabilities of their computing devices, including 1) the ability to disable communication functionality both temporarily and permanently without requiring any special tools or technical knowledge on part of the users, and 2) in such a way that the communication functionality cannot then be re-enabled via software or any other means outside of users' control". In case of wired connections, unplugging would satisfy the requirement; and for wireless, it'd mean a mandatory switch on all equipment the bill would cover. Jumpers on motherboards, tiny physical switches on smaller devices, etc.
With luck, regulation like that could eventually happen after "right to repair" becomes mandated in EU and US. Probably after some wireless IoT exploits do billions worth of damage. I'd guess within next 10-20 years...
Yep. Business entities choosing Linux-based solutions to have control of their own operations makes one think about why should anyone else - from smaller businesses to individual "consumers" - accept OS vendor lock-in either.
I was a bit puzzled by some word choices in that original video too.
Apparently it was meant to encourage the kind of discussion it did:
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-wef-idUSKBN2AP2T0
Not sure if WEF media folks realized to what extent it will trigger the love of drama of conspiracy video makers on Youtube. But I suspect they expected a lot of people to read into the dystopian interpretation, assume that WEF is promoting that, and then help spread the video. One thing is sure: now a lot more people know that WEF exists than in 2016
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Anyway, as far as future and sustainability goes, and somewhat back on topic - in the country where I live, secondhand computers tend to be sold with a Linux distro of some sort.
The Trusted Platform Module requirement of Windows 11 will probably boost that phenomenon a percentage point (or a few). Not enough for IL to start development of Linux version of FL Studio, but one more tiny step towards making it likely, perhaps