It more like I bought into the peer pressure of getting Apple devices so I started looking past their unethical practices. The apps they ban weren't really the type of apps I'd use. What I'm concerned is that Apple one day just start banning ad-blockers, maybe ban VLC and cite piracy as a justification, banning encryption apps like signal, or banning VPNs (which they did in China, but I don't live there so I kinda ignored it). They hadn't done any of that yet so I just didn't think too much about it, but now I kinda randomly started thinking about it and I switched to Android.
Um no? Depends on what you mean by "locked down". For custom ROM? Probabaly. But for me, I just want to install apps without the approval of a corporation. If the appstore servers shut down or gets DDOSed for some reason, you're out of luck.
Ahh cool, I've messed around with rooting, bootloaders, TWRP, and Lineage OS and all that stuff when I was younger, and I kept bricking my devices. I don't do that anymore nowadays. Too much hassle.
I think you should not be allowed to take someone elses work and pass it off as your own. Selling work that someone else created should not be allowed, such act should probably be some sort of misdemeanor since it's a form of deception. But merely copying data for your own use should not be a crime. Even sharing someone elses work without permission should not be a crime, as long as you give credits to the original creator.