The future of this elegant and proven system was put in jeopardy last month, when Google unilaterally decreed that Android developers everywhere in the world are going to be required to register centrally with Google. In addition to demanding payment of a registration fee and agreement to their (non-negotiable and ever-changing) terms and conditions, Google will also require the uploading of personally identifying documents[^regid], including government ID, by the authors of the software, as well as enumerating all the unique “application identifiers” for every app that is to be distributed by the registered developer.
If it were to be put into effect, the developer registration decree will end the F-Droid project and other free/open-source app distribution sources as we know them today, and the world will be deprived of the safety and security of the catalog of thousands of apps that can be trusted and verified by any and all. F-Droid’s myriad users5 will be left adrift, with no means to install — or even update their existing installed — applications.
Oh, it’s preventing sidloading?! I thought it was just for their app store!
That’s shit.
Yes, some of the latest commits to AOSP repo added code to the Package Installer app for denying .apk package installation based on developer verification result, and even for denying installing .apk packages when internet isn’t available so it can’t contact Google’s servers for developer verification results. Google is already making it clear this kind BS is how they intend to enforce this ridiculous decree.
It is open source. Just remove that code, build, use F-Droid.
That’s egregious and really will impede using open source software on Android. Guess my phone will turn into a device for tethering now, instead.
Or just root your phone and continue to use your phone exactly how you would use a Linux laptop lol
Why would anyone use an Android phone without root after Google started showing their true face with Android half decade ago anyway lol
Fair point, but there’s quite a large hurdle to rooting a phone nowadays, and I’m not optimistic that FOSS will continue to work as well on Android for the average person once Google introduces these restrictions. iPhones could be jailbroken but there never really was much open source software on those things.
Unlike iPhones, where Apple dictates all iPhone to require literally hacking the phone via exploits to jailbreak, the ease of rooting a phone depends entirely on its OEM. Indeed there is Samsung the Apple wannabe who makes it physically impossible to root with locked bootloader, but there’s also Sony Xperia phones where Sony makes it clear about their specific open device policy with step-by-step instructions on their dedicated developer support webpage for how to unlock bootloader and the process itself taking less than 10 seconds.
Vote with your wallet, remind others to vote with their wallet, support OEMs who don’t do the kind of anti-rooting and anti-bootloader-unlocking practices, and support FOSS projects. This is our best chance, and Google is NOT going to stop themselves doing all the evil.
Also Mr. Average McPerson is not a real human being, and we shouldn’t be too concerned about the opinion of someone who doesn’t physically exist and is merely an abstract conceptual construct.
So downstream just removes that code? I don’t see the big deal
It doesn’t work like that for mainstream manufactures, the way Google does this, as they have declared so far, is making it a contractal obligation to keep this code in order for them to get Google’s GMS certificate, which Google requires for authorizing them to integrate Google’s suite into their phone’s ROM, including Play Store and Google Service Framework, which are all proprietary software which manufacturers are not legally allowed to distribute without Google’s authorization. And outside China it doesn’t look like most mainstream manufactures dare to sell an Android phone without Google’s Play Store, thanks to the wonderful collective of the Android users making fricking brilliant choices with their wallet over the decade, didn’t they?
The only way out of this for a government agency to step in it seems because Google really does have the manufacturers cornered here.
Why would you run the OS that comes with your hardware, anyway? Any business is going to do a wipe and OS reinstall as a required first step before issue. Phones should be no different.
Because the most popular choices for Android phones don’t even let you unlock the bootloader, let alone install a different OS (also custom rom support can be a tad spotty at times).
Sounds like a lot of people are going to be forced to buy libre phones, then
Most people don’t even know libre phones exist.
I wish more people focused a bit more on the need to agree to terms and conditions, I didn’t know that was a part of this issue and that massively increases the negative impact of this potential policy change
Google’s terms and conditions are consistently draconian and stupid. Especially if it’s the same terms and conditions applied to the play store, where apps constantly get pulled and devs are always frustrated as hell
Edit: I think pretty much everyone who replied regarding terms and conditions misunderstood what I meat, which leads me to believe I may have communicated poorly. My point is that early news coverage didn’t mention independent apps needing to follow Google terms and conditions.
That’s not just a privacy issue for devs, that’s an issue of Google wanting control over what the apps and actually do, and it changes how severe of a problem this is. I’ve also learned since then that this may mean only the devs can distribute apps(?), which would potentially kill f-droid outside of custom roms (I still don’t fully understand that part but that idea was also not in early coverage)
I will always believe that people can’t be asked to read a whole fucking T&C written in legalese to avoid being transformed in a human centipede.
Fuck that bullshit!
“I have read and agree to the Terms” is the biggest lie on the web. Together, we can fix that.
Google’s terms and conditions are consistently draconian and stupid.
They are not stupid, they are just intentionally malicious.
If Google was smart they would hammer out some sort of agreement with F-droid
I’m not sure they are that smart
They are rich, they don’t need to be smart
Once you reach orbit you can fall forever and never crash.
How will this be enforced?
i think basically play protect, but instead of a ban list, it will be an allow list.
So people without gapps are unaffected, cool.
Nothing burger scare and cowardice from F-Droid
