Technology

Have we ever lived in a more stallmanwasright.jpg time?

Technically illegal where I live.

In Brazil you can't sell a device with a given feature and then remove said feature in a software update. Even Apple, known for never allowing downgrades, was forced to downgrade and pay a fine to a customer after his iPad 3 updated to iOS 7 and lost an iOS 6 feature.

In other words... every single Android device sold until today in Brazil allows sideloading. Even if a single customer uses a sideloaded app, removing the ability to sideload freely would be illegal, and because the original feature didn't require a developer signature it can't be enforced now.

The issue is, as always, if this went to court somebody would have to manage to explain to a tech illiterate judge what a "developer signature" is, how this relates to "sideloading" and so on.

I am really glad to see these articles popping up now. Since the news broke a week back or so it was suspiciously quiet about this, despite lots of negative comments here.

Isn't this illegal in Europe? Was that the whole point of forcing apple to allow alternative app stores?

There's never been a more urgent time to switch to Linux on pretty much every device.

For those in Europe, write your representatives.

Fro me f-droid's post: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html

What do we propose?

Regulatory and competition authorities should look carefully at Google’s proposed activities, and ensure that policies designed to improve security are not abused to consolidate monopoly control. We urge regulators to safeguard the ability of alternative app stores and open-source projects to operate freely, and to protect developers who cannot or will not comply with exclusionary registration schemes and demands for personal information.

If you are a developer or user who values digital freedom, you can help. Write to your Member of Parliament, Congressperson or other representative, sign petitions in defense of sideloading, and contact the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) team to express why preserving open distribution matters. By making your voice heard, you help defend not only F-Droid, but the principle that software should remain a commons, accessible and free from unnecessary corporate gatekeeping.

https://f-droid.org/2025/09/04/twif.html [^antifeatures]: F-Droid Anti-Features overview: https://f-droid.org/docs/Anti-Features/ [^howmanyusers]: How many F-Droid users are there, exactly? We don’t know, because we don’t track users or have any registration. “No user accounts, by design”: https://f-droid.org/2022/02/28/no-user-accounts-by-design.html [^sideloading]: ‘“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” (because you don’t need a manufacturer’s permission to install software on your computer).’ — Pluralistic: Darth Android: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/01/fulu/ [^playprotect]: “Google Play Protect checks your apps and devices for harmful behavior”: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2812853

I will literally go without a smartphone if Google does this, this is insane I would have bought an iphone if I wanted a junk device I don't actually own.

"Google stands for free and open internet"

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/keep-internet-free-and-open/

Aged like milk.

Hopefully they go to court to get an injunction. Hopefully, they also go to the powers that be in the EU, those same powers have been so focused on the Apple App Store they failed to take into account Google can do something like this with the Play Store. It would be a shame for the F-Droid project to end but it is completely avoidable.

Linux mobile

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Open source community keeps trusting Google and they keep using the Embrace, Extend, Extinguish https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

"Year of the Linux Phone" has a nice ring to it.

It seems to me that part of the problem is overreliance on phones as computing devices. A lot of things, like banking, are best done on an actual computer. We have become too dependent on phones.

EU be like: Really? Didn't you learn from Apple?

This is why I didn't bother switching to GOS, Lineage, Calyx etc despite being sick of Apple's anti-foss monopoly — marketed as Privacy™️ and Security™️ — for years.

The late stage capitalism of western oligarchies indicated that Google's rug pull of AOSP was an imminent inevitability. After already having to change my services and workflows multiple times over the last 2 decades — despite careful analysis and forethought — due to services ever changing value propositions, acquisitions, and all other forms of enshittification, I'm at the point where I won't bother wasting energy on 99% of digital products unless they're open source and I can run them indefinitely on my own Linux server.

The more dependent you grow on digital products, the more interdependent they become, and the more time and effort is required to replace or substitute them.

My job doesn't allow me to use a jailbroken/rooted device

So if/when this goes through I'll be switching to iOS.

Given the choice between two closed platforms, I'll pick the one that ostensibly says they're privacy focused instead of the one actively enshittifying their product.