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F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree - Google’s move to break free app distribution (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/android@lemdro.id
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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.

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452
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/android@lemmy.world
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95
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/android@lemdro.id
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127
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.zip
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For the past 15 years, F-Droid has provided a safe and secure haven for Android users around the world to find and install free and open source apps. When contrasted with the commercial app stores — of which the Google Play store is the most prominent — the differences are stark: they are hotbeds of spyware and scams, blatantly promoting apps that prey on their users through attempts to monetize their attention and mine their intimate information through any means necessary, including trickery and dark patterns.

66
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/49841297

For the past 15 years1, F-Droid has provided a safe and secure haven for Android users around the world to find and install free and open source apps. When contrasted with the commercial app stores — of which the Google Play store is the most prominent — the differences are stark: they are hotbeds of spyware and scams, blatantly promoting apps that prey on their users through attempts to monetize their attention and mine their intimate information through any means necessary, including trickery and dark patterns.

15
“Sideload” is a weird euphemism that the mobile duopoly came up with; it means “installing software without our permission,” which we used to just call “installing software” (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/stuffandsuch@lemmy.world
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19
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/degoogle@discuss.tchncs.de
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cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/46277277

Recently Google decided that in the future for an app to be installable on an Android device, the developer of this app needs to be ID'd and registered at Google. They claim this is in order to "to better protect users". However, I think, this is a move to get more control over the Android ecosystem, and the data they can collect with it. If anyone who wants to develop an app for Android devices has to be registered with Google, this puts all the power of who to allow distributing an app to Google.

Furthermore F-Droid shows, that safe app stores can exist without registration, neither of users nor of developers. There is zero malware or spyware on the F-Droid store. What there is on F-Droid is thousands of beautiful, useful and, most importantly, safe apps. And this entire ecosystem is at risk, because Google wants to gain more control over its users and over the Android operating system.

32
F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/degoogle@europe.pub
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Recently Google decided that in the future for an app to be installable on an Android device, the developer of this app needs to be ID'd and registered at Google. They claim this is in order to "to better protect users". However, I think, this is a move to get more control over the Android ecosystem, and the data they can collect with it. If anyone who wants to develop an app for Android devices has to be registered with Google, this puts all the power of who to allow distributing an app to Google.

Furthermore F-Droid shows, that safe app stores can exist without registration, neither of users nor of developers. There is zero malware or spyware on the F-Droid store. What there is on F-Droid is thousands of beautiful, useful and, most importantly, safe apps. And this entire ecosystem is at risk, because Google wants to gain more control over its users and over the Android operating system.