And they all suck, my boss is still alive.

Communicate securely with WhatsApp? That's an oxymoron.

Are there substantial numbers of Russians who seriously wouldn't be wise to this?

Just for the record, even in Italy the winter tires are required for the season (but we can just have chains on board and we are good). Double checking and it doesn’t seem like it? Then again I don’t live in Italy. Here in Sweden you’ll face a fine of ~2000kr (roughly 200€) per tire on your vehicle that is out of spec. https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/en/travelling-motor-vehicles/motor-vehicles/winter-tyres-in-europe.html Well, I live in Italy and they are required at least in all the northern regions and over a certain altitude in all the others from 15th November to 15th April. Then in some regions these limits are differents as you have seen. So we in Italy already have a law that consider a different situation for the same rule. Granted that you need to write a more complex law, but in the end it is nothing impossible. …and thus it is much simpler to handle these kinds of regulations at a lower level. No need for everyone everywhere to agree, people can have rules that work for them where they live, folks are happier and don’t have to struggle against a system run by bureaucrats so far away they have no idea what reality on the ground is (and they can’t, it’s impossible to account for every scenario centrally). Even on a municipal level certain regulations differ, and that’s completely ok! So it is not that difficult, just write a directive that say: "All the member states should make laws that require winter tires in every place it is deemed necessary". I don't really think that making EU more integrated is impossibile

When I worked in IT, we only let people install every other version of Windows. Our Linux user policy was always “mainstream distro and the LTS version.” Mac users were strongly advised to wait 3 months to upgrade. One guy used FreeBSD and I just never questioned him because he was older and never filed one help desk request. He probably thought I was an idiot. (And I was.) Anyway, I say all that to say don’t use Windows 11 on anything important. It’s the equivalent of a beta. Windows 12 (or however they brand it) will probably be stable. I don’t use Windows much anymore and maybe things have changed but the concepts in the previous paragraph could be outdated. But it’s a good rule of thumb.

It's not a back door, it's just a rear entryway

A private company is selling cheap tablets to inmates to let them communicate with their family. They have to use "digital stamps" to send messages, 35 cents a piece and come in packs of 5, 10 or 20. Each stamp covers up to 20,000 characters or one single image. They also sell songs, at $1.99 a piece, and some people have spent thousands over the years. That's also now just going away. Then you get to the part about the new company. Who already has a system in Tennessee where inmates have to pay 3-5 cents per minute of tablet usage. Be that watching a movie they've bought or just typing a message.