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Android developer verification: Early access starts

android-developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#351

Post by ploek »

etatoby wrote: post #332
ashleyn wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yt-dlp's days are fairly numbered as Google has a trump card they can eventually deploy: all content is gated behind DRM. IIRC the only reason YouTube content is not yet served exclusively through DRM is to maintain compatibility with older hardware like smart TVs.

Something I've never understood about DRM is, if the content is ultimately played on my device, what stops me from reverse engineering their code to make an alternative client or downloader? Is it just making it harder to do so? Or is there a theoretical limit to reverse engineering that I'm not getting? Do they have hardware decryption keys in every monitor, inside the LCD controller chip?

Yes, the decryption happens in hardware. For your OS (and potential capturing software running on it) the place where you see the video is just an empty canvas on which the hardware renders the decrypted image.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#352

Post by calgoo »

vladms wrote: post #335
travisgriggs wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 95 (and patronage) had become a shitshow. It’s easy to forget how much time us tech types were spending “fixing” uncle’s PC that somehow got malware on it. How we touted Linux as an escape from the hellscape of crapware. It was into this void that the “everything seems new” iPhone stepped and ventured out in a different course. I’m neither speaking for or against apples normalization of an App Store as a prim…

Windows 95 was fundamentally broken as if I recall correctly there was much less security features (accounts, file permissions, etc.). Nowadays there are less problems with it.

Its not that it was broken, its that security was not really a thing. You had your antivirus to protect you from people adding stuff to discs, but thats it. Windows 95 was just an exe file in the windows folder that you could run from DOS.

Windows NT / OS2 did have more security as it was meant for shared environments, but even there, corporations ended up using stuff like Novell NetWare to get the actual networking services.

Windows 2000 was the first version of consumer windows based on the NT kernel instead of the DOS / Windows 95/98/ME based systems. I still remember running around the office updating windows 2000 machines to service pack 4 to protect us against the first real massive virus "ILOVEYOU".

Edit: Still on first coffee, sorry about the ramblings

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#353

Post by shevy-java »

svat wrote: post #7

From the very first announcement of this, Google has hinted that they were doing this under pressure from the governments in a few countries. (I don't remember the URL of the first announcement, but https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... is from 2025-August-25 and mentions “These requirements go into effect in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand”.) The “Why verification is important” s…

Aha - that is a much better explanation than I assumed, aka "the people forced Google to behave". So Google is scared of having to pay fines or having their CEOs end up in jail. I actually think there should be a new rule - easy-jail mode for CEOs globally. Does not have to be long but say, a few days in jail for ignoring the law, and right hold the CEOs responsible for that. You earn a lot of money, so you also gotta take the risk.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#354

Post by curtisnewton »

miki123211 wrote: post #176
Zak wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like a world where buying something means you get final say over how it operates even if you might do something dangerous/harmful/illegal.

I would like a world where I have the final say over whether I should have a final say. One way to achieve this is to only allow sideloading in "developer mode", which could only be activated from the setup / onboarding screen. That way, power users who know they'll want to sideload could still sideload. The rest could enjoy the benefits of an ecosystem where somebody more competent than their 80-year-old nontechnica…

> more competent than their 80-year-old nontechnical self can worry about cybersecurity

80-year-old nontechnical self can easily operate machines and devices that are much more complex and easily more dangerous than a smartphone.

And yet we're here pretending that those same people will install apps without even thinking about it.

Careless people are careless, we know that, we don't make them safer by treating everyone else like toddlers with a gun in their hands.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#355

Post by KurSix »

Tying app distribution to a verified identity definitely raises the cost for scammers. But the devil's in the implementation. If "verification" ends up being too bureaucratic or expensive, it risks pushing legit indie devs and hobbyists away from the ecosystem entirely

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#356

Post by dev1ycan »

svat wrote: post #7

From the very first announcement of this, Google has hinted that they were doing this under pressure from the governments in a few countries. (I don't remember the URL of the first announcement, but https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... is from 2025-August-25 and mentions “These requirements go into effect in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand”.) The “Why verification is important” s…

This is just lies spread by the very own people that created this system in the first place, if PCs can have apps without "verification" then so can a phone.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#357

Post by v3xro »

What prohibits Google from offering a way to register your long-term app signing key without identity verification, publishing apps that are still verified by their automated tooling and then opting in to the usual denylisting/app store banning methods if those apps are malicious? This identity verification requirement is basically just an easy way for illiberal governments to find ways to crack down on apps they do not like (such as say, ICEBlock or whatever)

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#358

Post by curtisnewton »

wkat4242 wrote: post #151
svat wrote: post #7

From the very first announcement of this, Google has hinted that they were doing this under pressure from the governments in a few countries. (I don't remember the URL of the first announcement, but https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... is from 2025-August-25 and mentions “These requirements go into effect in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand”.) The “Why verification is important” s…

Then let them do that for those countries. Not for everyone. I'm not in any of those autocratic countries. Or offer an opt out in the countries where this isn't a thing. Using adb is not really great for doing updates. And also, I'm the owner of my device. Not my country.

> I'm not in any of those autocratic countries

Autocratic Albania banned by law ads on YouTube so if you are in Albania (or your VPN is - wink! wink!) you get to watch YouTube without ads legally

I, too, hate those autocratic countries were government act for the good of the people, instead of ruling in favour of greedy billionaires

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#359

Post by reddalo »

omnifischer wrote: post #341
thisislife2 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this argument at all that this specific implementation is under pressure from the government - if the problem is indeed malware getting access to personal data, then the very obvious solution is to ensure that such personal data is not accessible by apps in the first place! Why should apps have access to a user's SMS / RCS? (Yeah, I know it makes onboarding / verification easy and all, if an app can acces…

Playstore is the one that contains majority of the malware and people get it only that way. I rarely know of people side-loading that have issues. https://www.google.com/search?q=ars+technica+playstore+malwa...

Installing apps from sources that are not the Play Store requires a bit of technical knowledge anyway. My grandma is not going to download a random APK and give all the necessary permissions to install it and run it.

Re: Android developer verification: Early access starts

#360

Post by KurSix »

svat wrote: post #7

From the very first announcement of this, Google has hinted that they were doing this under pressure from the governments in a few countries. (I don't remember the URL of the first announcement, but https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... is from 2025-August-25 and mentions “These requirements go into effect in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand”.) The “Why verification is important” s…

The tension here is classic: governments want accountability, Google wants plausible deniability, and users want control
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