If Netflix refuses to offer their services on a device that you own, you're always free not to pay netflix and instead take your money and attention elsewhere.

Just remember that that doesn't mean piracy.

If there's no ethical company left to purchase goods from, then there's no ethical issue with piracy.

And that's the problem with "owning your device entirely".

Most people are not capable (or willing) to own their device to its full extent and take responsibility for it.

The options are not limited to "A sanctified centralized authority controls and limits all my devices" and "I need to recompile the kernel by hand".

For most people "owning their devices" means being allowed to meaningfully change OS (or even just modify it) without losing major functionalities.

Is there a root method that falsely reports that SafetyNet is still intact?

It doesn't if you're using Magisk - which is the case 99% of the time. Magisk has been updated and passes SafetyNet under Android 12 too - no other means of rooting a modern phone is safe anyway.

So now you need to stay up-to-date with the newest advances in rooting (which I clearly wasn't).

It's nice if this is a hobby (and I have rooted my phones in the past), but for the average user (even the average technical user) who just wants to get on with their day without becoming an expert in rooting, it's a complete no-go.

Importantly, it's a very poor substitute for regulations mandating that manufacturers offer us these options without having to go through back doors. I believe that any energy spent on technical workarounds to manufacturer locks is better spent on political activism to enable true device ownership through regulation.