when the radio chip requires a digital signature from the host OS signed by google or apple

China will never let that happen.

I remember, when DVD players were required to show mandatory, non-skippable sections of video, chinese players violated the standards and international agreements and allowed skipping those sections, and they also sometimes illegally ignored regional restrictions.

I think times were different back then. Modern times are more like China selling Playstation 5’s with mod shops: to my knowledge, they currently don’t. Even if it ever becomes a thing the PS6 is only a few years away and will be even harder to break.

5 eyes governments would be able to mandate this to stop against the ‘persistent evils of China’

Google, Apple, or CCP. Problem solved.

I mean, the actual implementation will be that CCP signs Google DragonFly Global Root CA cert, and Apple runs Google signed firmware, but those are just minor implementation details.

The irony, software freedom is now dependent on China.