I am going to install Element with F-droid or manual APK load on principle now. Fuck this.
Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
731–740 of 988 posts
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#732Earlier quoted context omitted.
i disagree. the main repository enforces reproducible builds and restricts trackers. please keep the main repo up to date.
The main repository also signs everything with f-droid keys, not the original developer's. This means any compromise in f-droid compromises everything .
sounds like a problem to solve. build in both places, verify build hashes agree, upstream dev infra signs and sends signed build to f-droid, f-droid verifies hash against its own build, verifies upstream signature, signs and then lists. apks can have more than one signature.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#733Earlier quoted context omitted.
You, like Parler, have been targeted by the powers that be. You may have nothing else in common other than that but, you're in the same boat it seems.
Element and Parler are nothing alike. Element is a chat client. It's an empty piece of software for use with your own choice of server. Element is to a chat server, as Thunderbird is to an email server. It's basically a glorified IRC client. It contains no content of its own. Parler was basically a curated, centrally run, Facebook-message-board-replacement for neonazis, antisemites, qanon conspiracy theorists, and th…
As I said nothing else in common....
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#734Earlier quoted context omitted.
Technical distinctions are irrelevant to someone at headquarters worried about having a regulatory probe inserted in their backside.
But this one is important, no? This is like banning Firefox because it can connect to illegal content.
It is relevant, it makes it more absurd than Parler's bans but, I was just trying to point out they're for the same core reason.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#735So 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…
I'm really upset that this happened to you folks, and it's scary, because incident could just as easily have happened to us at Zulip (or any other OSS app that connects to self-hosted servers!). I expect we'll never get a useful explanation from Google for why this incident happened -- abuse teams, like fraud teams, are worried about the bad guys using the explanations to tune their tactics and so tend to never expla…
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Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#736Earlier quoted context omitted.
Update posted on Twitter: > Morning all. We've had contact from Google confirming that the suspension is due to abusive content somewhere on Matrix; we're working with them to explain how Element works and get the situation resolved.
I think it’s funny that they think Google cares at all about the implementation details of your service. The only thing that matters to app reviewers is what the user sees when they use it. If you make your app technically unmoderatable, impossible to remove illegal content, or impossible to respond to DMCA requests you don’t get to just throw your hands up.
> The only thing that matters to app reviewers is what the user sees when they use it.
If that were true, web browsers would be in trouble.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#737Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm optimistic that PinePhone may finally be the one to do it, at least to an extent that it's usable if you're willing to hack on it.
> usable if you're willing to hack on it Most people need things just work.
The problem with Desktop Linux was by the time it got better, regular people spent too much time on phones and not enough time on laptops/desktops.
But I can't really imagine phones going away that fast---what, we all get some Uber regulated neural thing? I think the tech companies are too unpopular for that---and so I think PinePhone can catch up. Plus, the Duopoly is way more annoying for regular users than Windows ever was.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#738Earlier quoted context omitted.
Signal is open source you can run your own non-federated signal server. You can use a custom signal client against the federated network too. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vq4k/thousands-of-users-un...
Signal Server has not seen updates for over 9 months. Moxie openly states that is not part of Signal's core values to support federation in the network. IOW, even though they say they don't want to control your conversation, they do want you in their hands.
But. The point is still that you can run your own non-federated signal server or connect your own client to their federated network.
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#739Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually Ubuntu is not less usable than Windows 10. Ex on intel NUC - wifi on Ubuntu : out of box - wifi on windows : plug ethernet, install driver manually. Old printers works better on Linux, eg when driver do not work on windows 10. Libre Office outof box, Office : where is my key ? ...
"Actually Ubuntu is not less usable than Windows 10." For you and me maybe. But don't expect other people to have your standard of software choices etc.
The problem is Ubuntu, but that consumers have migrated from desktops/laptops to Phones. (Bad for Linux, and bad for society as it's much easier to be a non-passitive participant on a desktop/laptop.)
Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store
#740So 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…
I'm really upset that this happened to you folks, and it's scary, because incident could just as easily have happened to us at Zulip (or any other OSS app that connects to self-hosted servers!). I expect we'll never get a useful explanation from Google for why this incident happened -- abuse teams, like fraud teams, are worried about the bad guys using the explanations to tune their tactics and so tend to never expla…
> the bad guys
With a mindset like that, you should stop paying taxes since the bad guys benefit from federal government as well.