Recently, a friend was forced to buy a new handheld, with a more current
version of Android, so she could use WeChat. Using WeChat was required by
prospective employers in China for remote interviews. If she had refused to
use WeChat because it forces her to own a personal surveillance device full
of proprietary software, she would be missing out on a lot of potential job
offers. Those who refuse to use Skype on principle (like me) are risking
missing out on social and economic opportunities too.
We can't ignore that these power dynamics are in play when it comes to
software choices. Even when there is a free code app that does a better job
of voice/ video chat than any existing proprietary product, and so far I
haven't found one, there's no guarantee that we can get prospective employers
(for example) to use it.
What would it take to reverse engineer all the major voice/ video chat apps
(Skype, Hangouts, FaceTime, WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, Signal etc), so that
free code client software could connect with them? The ability to connect to
all these networks would become a reason to choose a free code client over
any of the proprietary clients offered by the network operator.
On a more ambitious level, what would it take to get VoIP services included
in the traditional telecommunications regulations that allow us to call any
landline or cell phone from any other landline or cell phone, regardless of
the vendor of the device, or the carrier its connected to?
