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Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

9to5google.com

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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#611

Post by jbm »

throw10920 wrote: post #393

This is really bad. I think that most people on HN will agree with that. The problem is that most normal people (HN is not normal - mostly for the better) don't even understand what sideloading is - let alone actually care . How can we fix this? (aside from making people care - apathy enables so many political problems in the current age, but it's such a huge problem that this definitely isn't going to be the impetus…

In my case, I've been working on fixing it by doing side work porting apps to offline-first Linux handhelds. With AI it is not hard nor time consuming. You can make personal versions of anything that adds personal value.

The idea that you can hold the beggar bowl out and company mommy will have pity is not realistic. Creating your own ecosystem and cross-fertilising with other liked minded people that is tailored to your approach is far more feasible now than we realise.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#612

Post by postsantum »

Yokolos wrote: post #16

> Google notes “supportive initial feedback” from government authorities and other parties: Ah, then I guess everything is fine. I'm sure they aren't in favour because it gives governments greater control over what apps we're allowed to have on our phones. That would be absurd.

It makes perfect sense. Clients of Google are businesses and governments, not users of free products. They used to be less open about it until recently

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#613

Post by Gigachad »

cedilla wrote: post #565
tgma wrote: post #503

The funny thing is Stallman started his fight like half a century ago and on regular days Hacker News shits on him eating something off of his foot and not being polished and diplomatic, and loves practical aspects of Corporate Open Source and gratis goodies and doesn't particularly care about Free Software. On this day suddenly folks come out of the woodwork advocating for half baked measures to achieve what Stallma…

Stallman actively hurts the cause with his behaviour. I'm not only talking about his eccentricities, but also the adversarial and combative language. Yes, Amazon is trying to swindle us, but few people will be convinced of that when you start your argument by calling the kindle an "Amazon swindle" every time, directly implying that anyone who has one is an idiot or even malicious. Yes, it's unfair that someone can be…

I was always somewhat put off by his extreme vigilance over the word free. Stallmans usage of free software is exactly the same as the rest of the worlds open source. We also have “source available” for software that is license encumbered but distributes the source.

So much time and effort wasted on a fruitless effort to redefine words that already have well established meanings.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#615

Post by GardenLetter27 »

medhir wrote: post #407

Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access

Reminds of RMS's The Right To Read - http://mat.puc-rio.br/~nicolau/stallmann/tycho10h.html

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#616

Post by HackerThemAll »

Everybody DEMANDS Google "do something" about malware, scam and fake apps. So it does.

For an average Joe and Jane, who gets their money stolen, that's a good move. They don't care about technology, they just want their bank, instagram, cat pictures and video calls to work and not get scammed. They are often lured into installing scamware through exactly sideloading APK, completely unaware of the risks.

In the article there's this comment:

> I'm struggling to see the benefit of this new policy. While it's presented as a security measure, the requirement to fill out these forms seems like a trivial barrier for actual malware creators, who will easily abuse the system.

Every scammer will have a different code signing certificate which you can then block if they spread malware. Right now it's a huge mass of scammers and malware authors indistinguishable from each other. And Google could possibly block them all which would also block legitimate applications (now that would spark outrage). Thanks to the new policy it'll be easy to add a single cert to the blocklist.

If you want absolute freedom on your device, just install a different Android - for example Graphene, Lineage, /e/OS, or Calix. They are all Android too.

It's so fashionable these days to go after Google.

Thanks Google.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#617

Post by preisschild »

realusername wrote: post #446
87636899376 wrote: post #14

Official announcement: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-... More info: https://developer.android.com/developer-verification https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ... Personally...we all know the Play Store is chock full of malicious garbage, so the verification requirements there don't do jack to protect users. The way I see it, this is nothing but a power grab, a way…

> Every time I hear mentions of "safety" from the folks at Google, I'm reminded that there's a hidden Internet permission on Android that can neuter 95% of malicious apps Of that they still refuse to sandbox the play store. It's easy to see that there's a pattern on what they are copying from GrapheneOS.

> Of that they still refuse to sandbox the play store.

It's absolutely essential that Google Play Services have "root" permissions and circumvent the permissions system normal apps have. How else would Google have access to all of your data? :)

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#618

Post by silverliver »

jjani wrote: post #471

Thank you, all HNers at Google, for continuing to work there. And yes, before you ask, I have personally quit a job that paid 3x what I was able to get elsewhere over ethics. And no, I'm not rich, probably bottom 5% in terms of assets among my colleagues, coming from a lower-class background.

Yep, at this point aiding google is simply inexcusable. Taking into account the scale of the harm to humanity, what is being done by these google developers is truly evil. These developers cannot feign ignorance. Not with this level of harm.

I wonder if the individuals implementing this will ever be held accountable for their crimes. I would certainly be in support for it.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#620

Post by SlowTao »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #526
medhir wrote: post #407

Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access

There is no chance that we own our computers unless we figure out how to setup chip manufacturing factories at the 10 million dollar price point. Without commoditized hardware, big capital will surely be in control of software.

This is something the folks in the Permacomputing space have been discussing on and off for years.

Maybe we can make chips at the level of a 386 but they would be freedom respecting.

Starting to sound like Stallman again.

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