These days, more and more smartphone manufacturers are making the installation of custom ROMs increasingly difficult. Notable examples include Samsung, which has removed the OEM unlocking option from the developer settings in One UI 8.0; Xiaomi, which is rejecting an increasing number of bootloader unlocking requests, especially in China; OnePlus, which now requires users in China who wish to unlock their bootloader to submit a Deep Testing request and wait for review since ColorOS 16; and even Google, which has ceased releasing vendor images for their Pixel 10 series.
This is truly a crisis for the free software community, as these proprietary software giants are making it ever harder to install free software on our own devices. We kept stepping back until we had no ground left to give; now it is time for the community to fight back.
Recently, GrapheneOS has begun working with an Android OEM to bring a GrapheneOS-ready phone to our community, in anticipation of the possible future locking down of Google Pixel bootloaders. I believe GrapheneOS will not be the only organisation to act against such proprietary evils, as ‘wherever there is oppression, there is resistance.’
Workers of the world, unite!
Trust Information
XMPP
rebel1725@autistici.org (as of 10/8/2025)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
I hereby formally acknowledge that the Jabber/XMPP account rebel1725@autistici.org is associated with and under the control of the individual whose OpenPGP key has the fingerprint 696A423E9993D727706AA733BCD5DC5659C7FB50. The following OMEMO fingerprints are hereby confirmed as valid for this account:
0B8DDA1D B897F31B B158E692 C9BE24BC 0248BAE3 778E85B2 A2748D99 BA38D132
B0E6BB3A 0C320199 D9977EC5 9A7C73AE 391993CA D8AEE962 FE5B2E46 42810D7B
EF668AD2 473A5C92 245C57E5 E7D861D1 317B6B3E BC6DF2DD AEA2BEE0 289ECC53
EF279694 4594EE07 7A8D428E C933F948 75BF4B10 441E0FAD B827F127 E6B84456
701EB8B2 6FCCD8E9 E4CE0B6D D52EE159 8759A527 EA9B78D9 0CA42D48 C8C42E79
8D1A7BB0 A8BC4A03 FB6CF642 75E9DBE8 6287C2CE C2EB8A0D 8C255703 2BB9A658
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYKAB0WIQRpakI+mZPXJ3BqpzO81dxWWcf7UAUCaJgpSQAKCRC81dxWWcf7
UP3LAPwKNl4cexgT/kxhD7g8BkMrMLMl4jOhvckuuNiIzRb3EgD+K++rfxb8qRhb
07oZGapIABAMD+/L4iNzCFeBeIr4Dg4=
=bWqf
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
rebel1725@magicbroccoli.de (as of 9/7/2025)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
I hereby formally acknowledge that the Jabber/XMPP account rebel1725@magicbroccoli.de is associated with and under the control of the individual whose OpenPGP key has the fingerprint 696A423E9993D727706AA733BCD5DC5659C7FB50. The following OMEMO fingerprints are hereby confirmed as valid for this account:
EFEB4FF2 77C8168A 66EF301F 37404066 97E388C5 7AB17A50 4E962876 B7582A6C
85E63E85 F4FE6FE7 21C60027 0E151067 A61239FF EF4B6EC5 2A9A60FA 5392ED53
426DDE8F 4A350928 AB201D24 F4388332 0E1A9C10 765E6465 E5A83636 17215C09
61D4519B D2769BC2 076537E1 B2952DFB 0ADB34D4 9C70E3CA 1DF88CDC 03C54923
90B07EBB B11DCE78 C08D2C15 6B91A053 E47A9718 2F33E296 C9FD0074 D690A460
263DA69B A9A820DB 327E285F 5BF54105 77D71E96 A3399F80 655E010A 17ED0A2D
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYKAB0WIQRpakI+mZPXJ3BqpzO81dxWWcf7UAUCaG6IqgAKCRC81dxWWcf7
UFl5AQCTTZkmqW0Mo6GfvFl17XykvwgadsS64iJqszFqhIAByAEAmkbcSaFpn1Ie
CvZusVZCUynfaNMb+GvadzlJH41XvQY=
=+jyq
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
rebel1725@xmpp.jerryhome.i2p (as of 6/8/2025)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
I hereby formally acknowledge that the Jabber/XMPP account rebel1725@xmpp.jerryhome.i2p is associated with and under the control of the individual whose OpenPGP key has the fingerprint 696A423E9993D727706AA733BCD5DC5659C7FB50. The following OMEMO fingerprints are hereby confirmed as valid for this account:
07330281 A941A098 48D69604 5D19C305 E33C7522 F5923BCE BB9B5127 BF3B1806
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYKAB0WIQRpakI+mZPXJ3BqpzO81dxWWcf7UAUCaJLo3wAKCRC81dxWWcf7
UKmrAPoCNYt5EJE5cdRVDNjOKljJYET/+mtql+0XIHqpDhucWgD+IcJG0CXBRCyU
t8CcXUiwjaLnR+zp0Ifs5IRLR7iMtQw=
=eXHx
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Matrix (as of 7/7/2025)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
I hereby formally acknowledge that the Matrix account listed below are associated with and under the control of the individual whose OpenPGP key has the fingerprint 696A423E9993D727706AA733BCD5DC5659C7FB50:
@rebel1725:envs.net
@rebel1725:converser.eu
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYKAB0WIQRpakI+mZPXJ3BqpzO81dxWWcf7UAUCaGtwUQAKCRC81dxWWcf7
UCAlAP9NjVKBP3h0ePYbAZ2KnCmq+hl1osmot4WRUwV3OvF+nwEA4GoJuDxX3+iU
Bg3G8afwJNLXkOC2lewJXBmfiy7mVAQ=
=AbTL
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Delta Chat (as of 6/8/2025)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
I hereby formally acknowledge that the Delta Chat account 44w42tz75@nine.testrun.org (Fingerprint: 99FE 8243 4387 196D E0FF 0ECA 2D85 4D1E 56F9 0066) is associated with and under the control of the individual whose OpenPGP key has the fingerprint 696A423E9993D727706AA733BCD5DC5659C7FB50.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYKAB0WIQRpakI+mZPXJ3BqpzO81dxWWcf7UAUCaJLotwAKCRC81dxWWcf7
UMpjAPsE2YcDbw/Qcm8pq//mXIOIwmXJFRGyFAQXdfUFUXR6WgEA3Cc2CqThutVr
l/S2JKV6UtKur6gP7RpCV0bAz0GF3Ao=
=sc7J
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Tox (as of 6/8/2025)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
I hereby formally acknowledge that the Tox account 0D39313DF710AF29AD3B2CFE7AF72CAE17E49AA82720115AF8AF3EEE82B1C12927F3589AF227 is associated with and under the control of the individual whose OpenPGP key has the fingerprint 696A423E9993D727706AA733BCD5DC5659C7FB50.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iHUEARYKAB0WIQRpakI+mZPXJ3BqpzO81dxWWcf7UAUCaJLp0wAKCRC81dxWWcf7
ULtgAP44tuo+GSG4baiffaVplrzEltekv7Z2bQP67GRuEn+9mQD/dGjFBHUWMYUi
GFKgzwHc1wFf+RvKeBh4X4vOxpD/HQY=
=VhRP
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Read More
A Tough Decision
During the 204 days since being deeply hurt by the extensive censorship and surveillance of unencrypted communications, I have never escaped the overwhelming sense of agony and struggle.
Despite the widespread promotion of XMPP, Matrix, Delta Chat, Telegram, SimpleX, and other end-to-end encrypted libre software communication tools among my friends, my communication with several important friends of mine still relies heavily on unencrypted SMS/MMS and unencrypted emails. Although no proprietary malware or spyware is involved, the problem of surveillance and censorship has not become any less severe.
Read More
A Letter to Her in 2026
The original text is written in Chinese. If you understand Chinese, I recommend reading the original text.
Recently, I’ve developed a deeper understanding of love.
This poem depicts my ideal partner—someone who can share meals with me, go shopping with me, watch Revolution OS with me, chant “Long live free software!” with me, develop free software alongside me, reverse-engineer proprietary software with me, distribute leaflets with me, share both joy and adversity, and dedicate our lives together to the cause of the Free Software Movement. I hope we can meet in 2026. Although it may be unlikely, it remains my heartfelt wish.