Yeah, what is the key verifier thing? It’s not like it’s Windows and needs a purchased license key, right?

more than likely it was the two emails in the gmail app

I appreciate this post. I think you are right that those of us who value privacy and try to take steps to minimize eventually having those moments of having to step back and reassess our threat model.

Every now and then I ask myself why I resist the duopoly of Apple and Google, and the answer is because I value a third option. Like you mentioned in your post it may seem bleak now, but it might not always be this way. And if we ever do reach a more privacy conscious society, it was because all of us in the privacy community kept the flame going by supporting and using that more privacy focused third option.

I guess it’s less the services and more the updated hardware that tempts me. I don’t do anything that requires a lot of computing power, so I get tempted to get something with Samsung Dex or Motorola Ready For to use it as both mobile and laptop/desktop.

I do use the Librem 5 with convergence, but storage is becoming an issue. I have a few things I can try to maximize storage before seriously considering something else.

I have significantly reduced my usage of Google and Apple services for a couple of years now. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back, but then I see the enshitification of it all and it reminds me why I did so in the first place.

My wife is the same way. She doesn’t care so I just use her phone number for everything. But then she wonders why she gets more spam calls than me…

I was going to mention postmarketos if they really wanted to dive headfirst into the degoogled life, lol

I don’t live in the snow so never tried in real life, but local laws usually classify different levels of two wheeled vehicles. Some laws treat level 2 and under, where most e-bikes are, the same as bicycles. Mopeds and motor-driven cycles are a level above that are allowed on surface streets the same as cars but too underpowered for the highway. Then the level above that is the traditional motorcycle that are allowed on streets and highways.

tl;dr, it might be allowed for e-bikes to have studded tires depending on how local laws classify it.

Buy an electric bicycle and use the money you would have spent on a car to run for a seat for local office on the platform to improve local transit infrastructure