Earlier quoted context omitted.
Over the long term, we definitely need something like Linux phones. I find it bizzarre by how little companies support this mission of Linux phones.
It's not Linux phones that we need. We already have alternatives, like graphene and other AOSP forks. We need corporations and governments to stop locking down and gatekeeping vital software to closed ecosystems. A Linux phone doesn't help me when my government's 2FA system (BankID) only runs on Android and IOS phones and can only be acquired with an app store account.
Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
481–490 of 793 posts
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#482I think the most fun part with Google is that if some wayward algorithm decides it doesn’t like you, along with nuking your app and developer account it will probably nuke your 20 year old gmail, your kids Google Drive accounts, your wife’s YouTube premium, the Adsense account of some company you worked for in 2008, and disable your Nest cameras. And you’ll never reach a human to sort it out.
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#483Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#48424 hour waiting time? Big outcry.. Anticompetitive permission system where apps can do not that much more than websites? Nah, it's fine..
Unless you unlocked the bootloader, you were NEVER able to install apps you want, as Google had the final say what those apps could do (the anticompetitive permission system where user is the third class citizen, vendors are second-class citizen and there's only one first class citizen - Google). We need to fight for the right to unlock the bootloader and then not be restricted by the actual malware that is Play Integrity.
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#485Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know Graphene has innovative security measures, do you happen to know whether that includes anything wrt. phishing or social engineering? (For those who haven't been following along: this whole affair started with phishing. People were social-engineered into installing an app and a little later their bank accounts were empty. A big issue in various poor countries.)
my brother in Christ, people who root their phones don't fall for "Hello sir, I'm sir John from Microsoft, you have virus sir, please do the needful install antivirus and send gift card sir."
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#486Earlier quoted context omitted.
Suing a company will almost certainly result in them exercising their right to not do business with you and shutting down all your accounts - exactly what OP was trying to avoid
In some EU countries - it could be seen as retaliation if you sue for something and then Google closes your accounts, some EU countries have strong protections here. More importantly for Google though it's under extra scrutiny under the DSA at the EU wide level - so it doesn't have a clear right to not do business, it has to do terminations correctly with clear reasons set out in terms, there are mandatory notice per…
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#487Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are right - now greedy corporations decide who is an "acceptable" human and who is perma-banned. Governments need to wake up to this insane level of Evil. And other governments also need the US government responsible here, since they allow this to happen. In objective terms this can be called a fascist system. > A temporary workaround like using alternatives like GrapheneOS The issue still is that so many service…
As proven by history, it's convenient to have a big well-known external entity to blame as a source of any trouble, but in reality it's orders of magnitude easier to be a digital dissident in the US compared to the EU. And European Commission + European national governments are exactly the ones you should blame first. They are openly proud of how it works, they call it successful digitalization for a positive spin.
The reason for this is really simple: every pirate wants to be an admiral, and every client state wants to be an empire. We as tech consumers hear "sovereign cloud" and think "cutting out undue influence that US tech companies have in the EU". The EC hears "building our own tech monopolies to lock in other countries into our stack". Using SKG as an example again, the whole reason why SKG started was because of a French company, Ubisoft, killing one of their games. Why would the EC ever overrule their own industrial interests?
The EC was specifically and expressly built to be an antidemocratic bulwark against popular sovereignty. The entire concept of dividing people up by nation-states is already an antidemocratic exercise - e.g. France has 69,000,000 residents and Malta has 520,000, but both get one seat at the EC. And because the EC is made up of nation-state appointees and not elected representatives, they have all the incentive in the world to stab their own people in the back. The EC is the designated villain that the """liberal""" side of Europe's government uses to shut down democratic control (and, sometimes, even liberalism itself).
Some have pointed out that this is deliberate (and, supposedly, therefore good): that Malta would never have joined the EU if they didn't have veto powers over whatever France wanted to do. My counterargument is that veto powers are the last resort of the rich and powerful. You can either have strong protections[0] on national identity, or you can have democracy, but not both.
[0] To be clear, the way we deal with democracy being a tyranny of the majority is with liberalism: we explicitly declare certain things to be "human rights" and thus more or less off limits to the democratic process. This list is generally fixed (or at least, difficult to change) and thus less ripe for abuse than, say, having an entire wing of the government dedicated solely to overruling the people that is active all the time.
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#488If Google is looking at a world where all of their competitors are using first-party-controlled signing, it makes sense for them to wonder "why not us". And if they get sued for this, that would set the precedent for all of their competitors too.
At that point the playing field would be level and platforms would be properly open.
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#489Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trump can close down a lot of the British NHS by telling AWS to stop supplying it. Everyone apart from a few countries (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, etc.) is dependent on the US.
Yes but that’s a blunt instrument, which would risk reaction. However putting an individual on a sanctions list is routine and easy. And a president could always just call up the CEOs and ask for their least favourite Norwegian to be cancelled without any paperwork.
Re: Android Developer Verification: Threat masquerading as protection
#490Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not useless. It is like the missing printer driver for Linux Desktop. It makes the experience ugly, but this is not the fault of the Linux OSes. Also the bank should not require apps (instead they can offer hardware key support or desktop apps) and in fact some - at least in Germany - offer a different authentication possibility. Also the app for the German ID is published on fdroid and does not rely on Google servic…
There are plenty of banks in Germany which offer over-the-counter services, if you prefer to do banking as if it's 1999. Most of the time, when people say it's impossible to live without a smartphone, it's actually only impossible to enjoy the conveniences of the internet without a smartphone (at least in Germany). Besides these rentable scooters, I can't think of anything that actually requires a smartphone. Sure, y…