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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

#981

Post by seanw444 »

hbn wrote: post #921
seanw444 wrote: post #199

Makes sense why they had to get rid of the "don't be evil" motto. They've been on a roll. I've seen a lot of similar sentiment on this thread, but the reason I use Android is because it gives me more control than iOS by allowing full-on painless sideloading, and custom distributions like GrapheneOS. They're doing everything they can to turn themselves into a worse Apple. All of the downsides of Apple, but none of the…

> Makes sense why they had to get rid of the "don't be evil" motto. I hate how this always gets brought up because: 1. Evil has no definition, so it means nothing. They get to define what evil is for themselves. They stated their reasons they think this change is good. You can't prove it breaks their code of conduct. 2. It's straight up false, it's still in their code of conduct: > And remember... don’t be evil, and…

> They stated their reasons they think this change is good.

Right, because someone doing something evil would say outright what they're doing is evil.

> It's straight up false, it's still in their code of conduct

This is news to me. I think it's interesting that they removed it from the opening and put it at the end though.

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

#982

Post by chankstein38 »

Potentially stupid question, how will android developers load their apps onto their devices to debug? Will they just have to be verified beforehand? Or is there still a path to installing APKs through ADB and/or Android Studio?

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

#984

Post by sepeth »

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

This is why I believe GPL v3 is important.

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

#985

Post by nativeforks »

A fellow developer started a petition to stop Google from limiting app installation on Android devices unless developers provide personal identity documents.

Even though Google has not revoked similar controversial policies in the past, we do our best as much as we can. This change particularly threatens the freedom to build, share, and use software without giving away sensitive personal information. It affects independent developers, FOSS contributors, and even regular users who want to install apps outside of Google Play.

"Just imagine giving sensitive personal, government-issued ID to a corporation to install an app outside Google Play"

Let’s stand together to protect our freedom to create and use software without handing over personal information to a corporation. Every signature, share, and voice counts here

Support the petition here: https://chng.it/tyHZjstxWQ

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

#986

Post by sorrythanks »

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…

Wouldn't a third large phone os have the same problems as GrapheneOS?

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

#987

Post by fsflover »

827a wrote: post #893
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…

No, I hate this change from Google, and everyone involved with it should be ashamed of themselves, but Stallman is an extremest and I don't believe his world would be better than this one. There's genuine need for application developers to gain access to extremely secure end-to-end attestation of the environment their apps are running in. Its a rare need, but it does exist. There's also genuine need for some consumer…

> but Stallman is an extremest

No, he isn't, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45025116

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

#988

Post by fsflover »

JCGoran wrote: post #890

As someone who never comments on HN, I would like to voice my absolute disapproval of this new policy. As these decisions are not made in a vacuum, I have no doubt the recent developments in the political landscape have contributed to this decision (e.g. UK Online "Safety" Act, EU Chat Control, EU Age Verification solution, probably others). Coupled with the recent "mandatory" (read: forced) upgrade of my Pixel 4a, I…

> Since there are no viable alternatives

Depending on your definition of "viable", you might consider GNU/Linux phones.

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

#989

Post by fsflover »

seanw444 wrote: post #199

Makes sense why they had to get rid of the "don't be evil" motto. They've been on a roll. I've seen a lot of similar sentiment on this thread, but the reason I use Android is because it gives me more control than iOS by allowing full-on painless sideloading, and custom distributions like GrapheneOS. They're doing everything they can to turn themselves into a worse Apple. All of the downsides of Apple, but none of the…

> There's no reason a competitive Linux-based smartphone can't exist

And it does exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5

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

#990

Post by iggldiggl »

chenxiaolong wrote: post #31

If this is enforced via Play Protect, then the whole mechanism can likely be disabled with: adb shell settings put global package_verifier_user_consent -1 This does not require root access and prevents Android from invoking Play Protect in the first place. (This is what AOSP's own test suite does, along with other test suites in eg. Unreal Engine, etc.) I personally won't be doing this verification for my open-source…

There's also the related "Verify apps over USB" setting which is even exposed in the developer mode settings GUI.
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