Free tethering on Android banned by carriers and Google. Yay openness.

I don’t like closed, they say. I prefer a garden without a wall, they say. Apple’s evil, they say. Google’s the last bastion of openness, they say.

But guess what Google says? No more free tethering for you Android users.

According to Business Insider, Google has caved to carrier demands and has decided that free tethering apps will be banned henceforth. Thou shall not share your data plan over 3G. Thou shall not tether to a computer for free. Thou shall not pass go, and thou shall not collect $200.00.

Android users will now be bombarded with text messages from carriers warning them to stop illegal tethering.

In all seriousness, anyone who believes Android is an entirely open platform at this point has either chosen to not pay attention to reality, or can’t clearly define what open means. No matter how much you want to think it is, Android isn’t open. Stop pretending it is. The carriers control these waters, and thinking otherwise is absurd.

Now, the next person who smugly points out that Android is “open” gets a sack punch. You’ve been warned.

Article Via Business Insider

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld… Full Bio