196
Google’s Sideloading Crackdown: Why It’s a Threat to Everyone’s Privacy and Freedom (the.unknown-universe.co.uk)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
25 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Google is tightening control over Android under the guise of 'security,' but this crackdown on sideloading is a direct hit to digital sovereignty and FOSS. I've written about why this matters for our privacy and the future of open platforms. What do you think—is this the end of Android's 'open' era?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [S] 29 points 7 months ago (8 children)

That is a fair point. 'Sideloading' is definitely a corporate term designed to make basic ownership of our devices feel like a 'workaround' rather than a right. I used it here because it's the language Google is currently using to justify their crackdown, but you're absolutely right—it's just installing software. We shouldn't let them control the vocabulary of our digital freedom.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago* (7 children)

    We shouldn't let them control the vocabulary of our digital freedom.

    You're apparently taking an LLM controlling your vocabulary just fine, though, given both this comment and post were transparently written by one.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (6 children)

    What?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)
    • Argumentative essay full of genericisms (edit: they don't even say what the restrictions are despite calling them "these restrictions", which is ludicrous for an essay of this length). Please read this blog post if you haven't; the arguments are excruciatingly generic, and the wording is robotic and soulless.
    • Brand-new account posting for a brand-new blog website (claiming authorship for it, so I believe it's them because nobody's ever heard of this site).
    • No credited author.
    • AI-generated thumbnails (I loved my Lakebird Buf computer in the 90s).
    • Frequent blog posts from one person on an ostensibly unmonetized site with similar article formats:
      • The Long Road to CachyOS: Why I Finally Quit the Microsoft Ecosystem (29 March)
      • From Betamax to Bare Metal: The Origin of The Unknown Universe (30 March)
      • From WordPress Overwhelm to Publii Simplicity: Setting Up My Son’s First Blog (31 March)
      • This represents 3/5 of the articles so far.
    • Uses em-dashes constantly through articles (fine, I use en-dashes a ton) but then, despite flawless grammar everywhere, suddenly switches from "blah — blah" in the articles to "blah—blah" here. Both are grammatically correct, but for someone to suddenly switch after sticking to one would be weird; it's hard to explain to someone who doesn't use them, but using the first near-exclusively shows a clear preference to the point the second would likely look and feel weird to write. If you write with perfect or effectively perfect grammar (even here, so it's not just blog proofreading), you would notice.

    Not related to the LLM thing: "I don’t use social media, as it conflicts with my FOSS and privacy principles." but then linking a Mastodon account on the website, having a "Share this post" bar with Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Bluesky, and posting this here is chef's kiss.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 5 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Fair play, you’ve done a proper deep dive there. I’ll hold my hands up—I’m a sysadmin, not a journalist. I use tools to help structure my thoughts because my natural writing style is about as readable as a kernel panic. As for the 'social media' bit, the share buttons are a default plugin I haven't stripped out yet, and Mastodon is the only place I actually hang out because it's federated. I'm just a guy in a home lab trying to share some tech stories; sorry if the 'robotic' prose put you off

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    You're allowed to be human. Better to clarify what you mean to other real humans than waste huge amounts of electricity and water and create unnecessary pollution by filtering your humanity with a shitty LLM.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 7 months ago

    I get it. I spend more time in the CLI than writing, so I've been using tools to help structure my posts. Clearly, that 'polished' look just comes across as robotic slop here. I'll stick to the raw technical details from now on. Thanks for the feedback.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent