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Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

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Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#691

Post by tom_mellior »

Arathorn wrote: post #524
tom_mellior wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck! I hope you get this resolved soon. In the meantime, what is the explanation for the F-Droid version lagging behind?

F-Droid publish their own builds; part of their mission is to independently build and package the upstream from source to avoid risk of the upstream doing anything unpleasant.

Got it, thanks for the info. I donated 100 dollars via https://f-droid.org/en/donate/ in the hope it helps them. Thank you and everyone working on Element and Matrix as well!

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#692

Post by COGlory »

kubanczyk wrote: post #507
pnw_hazor wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not unlike the CCP.

It's a second comment in this thread like this. I'm not a native speaker and it's hard to tell whether CCP is supposed to be: - CCCP a cyrillic of SSSR? - CCP, Chinese Communist Party? - CCP, the cyclic something peptide, which is a top websearch hit for me?

Chinese Communist Party

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#693

Post by dominotw »

unethical_ban wrote: post #399

Don't forget that F-Droid is a thing, and Android still has at least that much freedom - to install your own software. Who would have thought 30 years ago someone would be saying "People can run any code they want on their computer" as a shocking thing.

I use the app to chat with my mom. My mom is not going to install F-Droid or whatever. This comment reminds me of the famous dropbox comment on HN.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#694

Post by Macha »

thu2111 wrote: post #651
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main hurdle is that (without rooting) there doesn't seem to be a way for alternative app stores to silently update software. That's bearable though unpleasant when you have one or two pieces of software that rarely get updated, that's absolutely impossible when you have 10+ pieces of software - you'll sit there for 5 minutes just approving install prompts every week, which isn't something a normal human is going…

The main hurdle is that (without rooting) there doesn't seem to be a way for alternative app stores to silently update software. Does this actually matter? On the desktop it's normal for apps to update themselves. Is there some fundamental reason an Android app cannot do this too?

Yes. The application's executable is not writeable to the app. You need to go through the package installer. This requires a system controlled prompt for the user to confirm an installation, and requires a seperate permission to even ask which is not allowed for third party apps published to the play store (https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.per...).

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#695

Post by dominotw »

grishka wrote: post #616
KnobbleMcKnees wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, you lost the 90% of users who are not tech experts by point 2.

So be it. It's okay for technology to require education. Stop infantilizing users.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

Dropbox wouldn't be a thing if we can "educate" users.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#696

Post by nip180 »

monopoledance wrote: post #648
Thorentis wrote: post #317

This is basically the last straw for me. The past week has made it perfectly clear that Big Tech will close the circle and protect their own. Anything that appears to be censorship resistant, that allows the little guy to get ahead and compete, or that allows individuals to have greater levels of privacy and freedom, will be shut down and de-platformed. As was predicted in 1948, "hate speech" has just become a smoke…

> This is basically the last straw for me. Now you're just out of straws, or pulled the trigger on some decision? What's the implication?

I imagine if you wanted to 100% stop buying or using products from FANNG (+Microsoft & Twitter) it would be impossible without doing anything short of living completely off the grid.

Imagine, you ditch your smartphone. You switch to Linux. You stop using _search engines_ because all of them use Google or Bing in the backend. You abandon Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, GitHub, and Gmail. Before you go to a website, how do you know if they are going to load an asset from AWS or GApps? Maybe the server loads an asset from AWS and redistributes it to you, so you can’t just blacklist IPs. How do you know if your Bank’s ATMs are using AWS? Or your hospital’s digital records? Eventually someone you do business with will do business with FANG and you’ll be indirectly supporting them.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#697

Post by khimaros »

Arathorn wrote: post #3

So we got notified by the developer console at 21:45 UTC that the app had been suspended, but still haven’t had an email to explain why - it’s 02:24 now. Our assumption that this is due to someone reporting abusive content in Matrix to Google, and Element catching the blame — although this is currently speculation. To be clear: Element is a Matrix client just as Chrome is a Web browser, and just as it’s possible to v…

please keep F-Droid repo up to date. please don't create your own repo.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#698

Post by khimaros »

cxr wrote: post #688
Arathorn wrote: post #680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

good point; have updated the blog post.

> We're also looking into running our own F-Droid repository going forwards That's great to hear as well.

i disagree. the main repository enforces reproducible builds and restricts trackers. please keep the main repo up to date.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#699

Post by nip180 »

imhoguy wrote: post #457
2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #13

Is this google starting to test the waters when it comes to arbitrarily kicking out software they personally don't like? (open source, decentralized, privacy oriented etc.) I might of course be exaggerating a bit here, keep that in mind. - Element and Matrix are growing but still not equipped to fight back at large against this, so it is unlikely to create too much negative press - If Google starts to catch too much…

> Even if these removals are temporary, they can still hurt growth. I don't think so. A lot of people were not aware of Matrix even, it's geek tech. Now, just watch how this Streisand effect unfolds over the weekend.

This is a critical growth period for smaller platforms.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#700

Post by whichquestion »

2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #13

Is this google starting to test the waters when it comes to arbitrarily kicking out software they personally don't like? (open source, decentralized, privacy oriented etc.) I might of course be exaggerating a bit here, keep that in mind. - Element and Matrix are growing but still not equipped to fight back at large against this, so it is unlikely to create too much negative press - If Google starts to catch too much…

Would there be a way to demonstrate that this hurt your growth and could you seek damages for this, despite the terms of service?

And if this is actually a pattern with the Google Play Store, couldn’t someone design an elaborate set of traps to demonstrate this in Court?

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