The Slow March Towards Computers as Prison
The "death march" of Software Freedom
More and more "Web sites" are becoming or have already become neither sites nor pages (are eBooks really books or merely simulations/metaphors of one?). They're just proprietary 'webapps', i.e. proprietary programs running inside proprietary Web browsers (Firefox also). We've just mentioned YouTube.com as an example of it. Twitter.com or X.com is another. This means that the "open Web" has gradually and quietly become proprietary unless you're running some client software that's Free and access sites that respect your freedom. Many sites people must access (e.g. government sites) won't work with such client software and won't respect your freedom. They won't even transmit any pages; they're just proprietary programs running inside proprietary Web browsers (and they will block any attempts at access without the "approved" browsers).
That's just the Web. There are many other perils.
Consider gadgets. Many people say Android is "open" (because of AOSP), but for the vast majority of Android users it is the OEM "version" of Android, which must be preloaded with proprietary spyware (which usually cannot be removed). So what kind of freedom is this? Very elusive.
China may be moving away from Windows, but who controls the drop-in replacement? The government of China, which is notorious for human rights abuses.
Software Freedom was always a case of perpetual resistance. We're probably not going to ever "get there", but fighting back means that the march towards the digital prison is slowed down and people eager enough can explore and find alternatives that don't silently switch on the cameras and microphone (or - worse yet - explode in their hands/pockets). █