> For any product, users should be free to use it for any (legal) use they see fit.

None of these companies ever agreed to be bound by that value, and aren’t under any obligation to adhere to the tenets of Hacker culture. Hackers as a group have failed to convince the public that these things matter, so as far as these businesses are concerned, they don’t.

Like, I agree, it sucks when companies restrict what I can do with a device. But when that happens I don’t talk about it like they betrayed me, I knew what I was buying and decided to buy it anyway.

> Hackers as a group have failed to convince the public that these things matter

I distinctly remember friends at Apple being surprised, in the aftermath of San Bernadino, at the backlash they received for refusing to break the encryption on the shooter’s phone for the FBI [1].

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption...

Do you think online protests or discussing these issues results in any tangible outcomes? (I do)

You’re free to use the purchased device. You’re not free to demand changes. It’s not like you’re unlocking functionality that should be built in. Changing this would require patching the firmware of every iPhone

> You’re not free to demand changes.

I mean, technically you are — doesn't mean anyone will listen.

Hacker culture would mean working around the limitation, not complaining that some consumer product doesn’t work exactly how you want it to work.

FWIW, there are videos on YouTube showing you how to silence the speaker. No idea if they work or not, but it's hacker culture at work.

Using a tech device to find and disable hidden trackers is pretty "hacker culture".

So why are you trying to artificially limit the use of my phone to alert me to other people's tracking devices?

I can use a steak knife as a screwdriver but I wouldn't expect it to be good in that role.

The reason apple designed it this way is so that someone can know if they are being tracked. If an air tag not associated with your phone is close by for a certain period of time, then it notifies you that you are being tracked.

This is a safety feature and its been there since day one.