reflashing router firmware is still something out of reach to most consumers. it would probably not even occur to most consumers that the ads in their web browser would be something they could change.

You could ask/pay/sleep with a person of your choosing and have them do it for you.

To the second point, if you had a world with mostly open source software then people would start to assume that things like that could be done.

It's like arguing that you should design cars to be only serviceable by the manufacturer simply because not everyone is a mechanic.

> reflashing router firmware is still something out of reach to most consumers

I don't know. I'm always amazed at what a few good blog posts can do if enough people see them.