I mean, for your logic to hold up at all, it requires ignoring a very real fact. A second hand phone was already purchased. That transaction was done already, and there exists no world in which if you don’t buy the second hand phone the seller will think “omg no one will buy this, guess I have to switch from Google forever”. Another person will absolutely buy it. But even if not, then it gets wasted, and I think the environmental impact being ignored here is a pretty crass move also. I’m not willing to sacrifice environmental concerns to send a message to Google. Honestly they absolutely know how many phones are running stock android so that number decreasing would “send the message” just the same without a phone potentially ending up in a landfill.

Absolutely. Verizon doing this to my Samsung Galaxy S5 is what made me realize I’d never ever buy a locked phone or a phone from a carrier again. In addition, Verizon is especially evil for a host of reasons

I appreciate all you have written here but I have to differ with you about buying a pixel second hand. The transaction is over, someone else will buy the phone or it will go into a landfill. The latter is an awful outcome and I think we all should oppose that. If someone else buys it, Google still gets none of that cash. True, you could argue it’s “promoting” Google. But we all make sacrifices. For many, the budgetary constraint is a big one.

He is an alt-right douche and it escapes me how him constantly being purposely antagonistic for fun lends to being “likeable”. The abhorrent political views would be enough, but there’s a lot more.