The article seems to use the term distributed computing for volunteer computing. Distributed computing very clearly is neither dying nor fading away.

Volunteer computing is more interesting. There’s a constant trickle of new projects, like distributed sharing of GPU power for running smaller LLM models, random science experiments that have you install an app on a phone to collect data, various Blockchain shenanigans, etc. I’m not sure if they’re getting less coverage than, say, Folding@Home or the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Seach. So perhaps it is fading into the background, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be dying.

It was shocking to me just how prevalent lack of broadband is. I moved in with my in-laws in norcal midway through the pandemic and the only internet service choices were a 600Kbps DSL line or Verizon mobile hotspots at 3-5Mbps (which is a massive blessing in comparison). I worked remotely and would frequently have to drive to Target or a coffee shop in town to download anything. They aren’t even in that rural an area - there were houses about half a mile away with gigabit cable. The cable company wanted nearly $70,000 to build out a line.

That simply isn’t the case. The ballot initiative was meant to stop the wireless diagnostics loophole, either requiring wired diagnostics as in the past or a compliant wireless version. I trust my bank to be able to work securely wirelessly, I have friends with wireless insulin pumps that manage to not get hacked and killed, the car already has these wireless diagnostics protocols built in, they’re just not an open standard, and there are a million and one ways to implement a standardized open protocol securely. The NHTSA is simply giving in to corporate lobbying here.