> The lines get blurry. Is a modern browser a feature upgrade or security?
A modern browser should be a feature upgrade. A browser as modern as the one that came with the device, except without known security issues, should be a required security update.
Coincidentally no one develops the latter without the former, so you get the former, but I don't see that you are entitled to it.
If anything I think the law should be designed such that there's an argument that you are entitled to the version of the browser that came with your device with security updates and without any feature regressions, which is never available today since browsers do choose to remove features on a regular basis.
Replying to myself here, one interesting result of the "security updates without any feature regressions" interpretation is that it would be a very strong disincentive to bundling software. You would want to let users install their own browser instead, so that every browser feature isn't a feature that you need to maintain. It seems like it could completely eliminate shipping with apps like Facebook pre-installed, because Facebook is never going to commit to not removing features.
It's probably not feasible with todays software ecosystem to actually create that constraint... but I still really like the idea.
Often when apps like Facebook are bundled on lower-end Android phones, they are not uninstallable. This means they take internal memory and can't even be moved to SD cards, severely restricting the functionality and durability of those phones. The only way way to fix it is by rooting.
Non-essential or third party apps should be at least un-installable. I'd be ok with a law for that.
A modern browser should be a feature upgrade. A browser as modern as the one that came with the device, except without known security issues, should be a required security update.
Coincidentally no one develops the latter without the former, so you get the former, but I don't see that you are entitled to it.
If anything I think the law should be designed such that there's an argument that you are entitled to the version of the browser that came with your device with security updates and without any feature regressions, which is never available today since browsers do choose to remove features on a regular basis.