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?

all 25 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[+] 92 points 7 months ago (9 children)
[deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 9 child 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
    • [–] 22 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    If a single company has this level of control over our devices we've already lost.

    Can you imagine a company like dell decided tomorrow to only allow installation from their specific vendor locked market? People would just not buy those products, you wouldn't be demanding dell let you install linux, you just buy something else.

    Even if i had to use a pc that's 10+ years old, id choose that over using a new pc that can only run vendor approved software. I cant imagine anything a new devive like a phone might have that would change my mind about it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Can you imagine a company like dell decided tomorrow to only allow installation from their specific vendor locked market?

    TBH this possibility does scare me. That we could lose this freedom too on PC.

    Today already, most PC come with Microsoft's secure boot keys in firmware. Microsoft signs the install keys for many Linux distros. It isn't totally locked down, b/c you can turn this off in UEFI. But most of the pieces exist. Frog and pot...

    The PC platform is "open", oh yes... but when Microsoft says jump, PC mfgs ask how high. We could somday see pressure to lock down all computing, not just mobile. To protect the children, you know...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    I think you're right to be scared, the only thing stopping a corp like microsoft from doing it already is the threat of facing legal sanctions, which is more of an inconvenience then a threat to a corp like microsoft.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (9 children)

    So Android is open source, right?

    What is to stop the community from just making and releasing their own android version, and be done with it?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    it's got an open source base layer; but it's got enough closed source layers on top of it to make the open source part alone useless for today's mobile environment.

    nevertheless, the things like graphene, lineage, postmarket, etc. are efforts to make that base layer effective and they will soon be your only options if you want to use android without having to provide your gov't issue ID so that your actions can be tracked for "terrorism"

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Yes, Android is open source. But the thing is, Google’s clampdown on sideloading isn’t just about the OS code itself. It’s really about controlling the whole app ecosystem and making it harder for people to install apps outside of Google’s own channels.

    Sure, folks can fork Android and make their own versions — that’s been happening for years with projects like LineageOS. But the tricky part is keeping all the apps working smoothly without Google’s proprietary stuff like Play Services. Without that, a lot of apps just don’t behave right, and the user experience takes a hit.

    So basically, just having Android’s code open isn’t enough to keep it truly open and easy to use. The real control is in the ecosystem around it, and that’s what Google’s tightening grip is all about.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Without that, a lot of apps just don’t behave right,

    Agree with what you said. And if I may add a little? Apps not behaving right extends to things average people see as essential in thier life. Like banking apps refusing to run on "untrusted devices".

    Techies can get around most of it. At least today, maybe not in the future. For example use the bank's web site directly not their app. But my nontechie friends have no idea. From their perspective, something like an alternative to Android simply doesn't work for what they are used to.

    Vendor lock-in.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    Then lets get the Wine equivalent for Android? Have an open sourced OS that will still run google play bullshit

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •