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

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

#962

Post by xyzzzzzzz »

marcodiego wrote: post #200

How did we let this happen? Oh, yes... Actually I remember: it was a long slow series of accepting small artificial restrictions. I remember people laughing at me at the time. They said it won't matter, they didn't care, that I was paranoid... Now... Here we are.

[dead]

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

#963

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

arielcostas wrote: post #765

Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…

Alas, no distinction is made between (a) a computer owner that wants to write software to run on their computer versus (b) an "app developer" who wants to write "mobile apps" and distribute them to others for financial gain

The computer owner in (a) is not creating "malware". Any arguments that "verification" is for the protection of users (not commercial benefit of Google) are inapplicable in (a). Unlike the software in (b) the software in (a) only runs on the computer owner's computer, not anyone else's computer. There is no need in the case of (a) for Google to know about what software is running on the computer owner's computer.^1 Surely Google would agree there is no need, i.e., no right, for a computer owner seeking "verification" to know what software is running on Google's computers or the identities of Google employees.

1. None that outweighs the owner's right to privacy. Microsoft, Apple and Google all use _default_ telemetry

https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1

https://github.com/cedws/apple-telemetry

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/437068/eliminating...

https://therecord.media/google-collects-20-times-more-teleme...

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

#964

Post by gck1 »

xtracto wrote: post #854
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…

It's a sad state of affairs when a guy born in 1953 and a 70+ years old is our reference for freedom. What happened to GenX, Millenials and GenZ ? Why aren't there any more vocal activists doing something? The internet fuked us up. We're full of armchair experts "fighting" the cause laying in our coach.

Millennial here. I took up educating masses in my country about all this. I quickly realized that people just do not care.

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

#965

Post by gck1 »

lentil_soup wrote: post #610

I always wonder, who are the developers doing this? don't they feel bad about going through with these changes or do they fool themselves thinking it's the right thing? is it greed? many other fields have an explicit or implicit ethics code which we seem to lack. I'm thinking about other fields like medicine, engineering, etc. Probably since the entry level to development is low and anyone can do it, it means there's…

They truly believe that the sole reason why someone would want to not distribute apps in their own name is for malicious purposes.

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

#967

Post by gck1 »

Play Integrity and device attestation need their own torrent-tracker moment, just like DRM did.

GrapheneOS says they won't touch it because it's a cat-and-mouse game. I think that's the wrong call. DRM was the same, yet torrent trackers are still here.

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

#968

Post by beefnugs »

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…

The future for security conscious will be something like grapheneOS for phones, but a step further where the device can only securely connect to your home computer and access regular software there. If you must, run segregated, whitelist only networking, virtual machine apps
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