US Government-funded Android phones come preinstalled with unremovable malware: Phones were sold to low-income people under the FCC's Lifeline Assistance program.

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[–]jamesK_3rd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

First, these programs aren't "gifts" from the government.

Second, I'm operating under the assumption that many of these programs from the government come with nasty terms of service. The same kind most people just check a box without thinking that let's Google rifle through email to find ads of what you might be looking to purchase for convenience.

I generally agree with you in principle about privacy. But the government is not a supporter of that, and their help comes with stipulations, like it or not. Years ago, people turned to actual social institutions, and these actually met the needs of people at the local level . Churches, synagogues, Lions clubs, moose and elk lodge, just to name a few examples.

Most of these have fallen by the wayside now, and the masses much prefer the safety and blanket checkboxes of government assistance and "gifts", regardless of if the price is their privacy or worse, their freedom. It's that reason I'm quite pessimistic long term about the USA.