Same as the current labeling/moderation service: any participant can verify any other participant. Which verifiers gets a check to appear is a property of the AppView.
If Bluesky becomes evil, you just configure your AppView not to trust their verifications.
Of course, that's the problem: right now we mostly have one AppView (bsky.app), which is the current SPOF in the mitigation plan against the "Bsky becomes the baddies" scenario.
It also puts more tax burden on the less wealthy. Sales tax is regressive; income tax is progressive.
But yes, that’s exactly why the American right makes taxation so cumbersome and horrible: to make people think that taxes are bad, as there’s this assumption you can have civilization without paying for it.
They're a private company so numbers aren't available but DHH has said in podcasts it's several million ARR. Not huge but fine for a company of their size with multiple products.
All smoke alarms have expiration dates. Mostly due to the isotopes used in them, which decay.
The alarms themselves should be able to work even without network connection, but you won't get to use any of the connected features, loosing all the "smarts" that they charged about $100 premium over other smoke alarms for.
It seems the current plan is to let the device reach their use by date before they shut off the servers, but Google being Google, who knows if they won't change their mind and decide to shut off the server before that.
If Bluesky becomes evil, you just configure your AppView not to trust their verifications.
Of course, that's the problem: right now we mostly have one AppView (bsky.app), which is the current SPOF in the mitigation plan against the "Bsky becomes the baddies" scenario.