The #FDroid website has a new banner on top to remind visitors that #Google did not change course and #Android will be locked-down in under 200 days.

[m2c_n3e@mastodon.xyz]

@Fynn @fdroidorg @marcprux Android has lost its appeal to me as a target for development. I also may order a Jolla Phone at home point, but I need to be sure that my banking apps work with it.

[tourma@tech.lgbt]

@fdroidorg
Ugh, looks like I might be using /e/OS sooner than expected.

[2something@transfem.social]

@fisk@little.tinypuppy.dog @fdroidorg@floss.social @marcprux@mastodon.social

The top grossing apps on Google Play in the U.S. are
1) Spyware and adware
2) Spyware and adware
3) Spyware and adware
4) Spyware and adware and rootkit
5) Spyware and adware
6) Spyware and adware and rootkit

I have a really hard time believing it's about "malware."

Also, how do you modify a phone to remove this restriction, assuming the manufacturer doesn't let you unlock the bootloader (as most don't)?

[moin@gruene.social]

@fdroidorg
Thank you for your amazing work. For me its time to switch to Linux in under 200 days.

@marcprux

[fisk@little.tinypuppy.dog]

@2something @fdroidorg @marcprux 1. I believe that it's specifically about stalkerware that gets distributed as sideloaded, anonymously signed APKs to avoid detection by Google Play Protect. I think this change will have a significant positive impact on the stalkerware market and result in a reduction in technology-facilitated intimate partner violence, making it a worthy tradeoff. Most open-source projects are not developed anonymously, and if developers don't want to get a certificate, nothing stops a third-party marketplace like F-Droid from building a signed, distributable APK for them. The same people complaining about this have already built the solution. "I'm altering the deal, pray I don't alter it further" just feels entitled and missing the point entirely.
2. I would specifically get a phone with an unlocked bootloader, because I want to run free and open source software on it, as I already have. I don't want other people tampering with my phone and requiring messing with the bootloader and performing a factory reset (which i would notice) to sideload untrusted apps is a security feature I want.

If you don't like it, try coming up with a better solution, or you know, try doing some work with victims of stalking by intimate partners to realize it is actually a much bigger problem for them than whatever spying Google Play Services is doing. Have a good day.

[cimb4@norden.social]

@fdroidorg i hope @shiftphones has planned for this already

[yianiris@kafeneio.social]

We don't have representatives, we live in capitalism. All those elected to run government represent multinational industries and their federation, banks and financial institutions. We are their enemy, they are not going to listen.

Unless....

We force them to listen

@fdroidorg @marcprux

[paradox@social.tchncs.de]

You have to know how to make a report correctly. It's not for average doomscroller.

[es0mhi@tilde.zone]

@fdroidorg @crazyeddie

What @crazyeddie is trying to say: standing up for openness, freedom, and the right to choose your own tools only makes sense in a society where openness, freedom, rights or even rational discourse still have any meaning at all. The US is probably no longer such a society.

[marcprux@mastodon.social]

@jsbilsbrough @fdroidorg I'd be happy to chat. Message or email me and we can set up a time.

[jrp@hub.kliklak.net]

@nicolaottomano Oh, that'll work.

[fbinin@mastodon.fbin.in]

@fdroidorg @marcprux
https://mastodon.fbin.in/@fbinin/116087580182508496

[jay@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@fdroidorg @marcprux

If Google doesn't want to place nice, I suppose we have options...

Huawei HarmonyOS: https://www.harmonyos.com/en/
Samsung TizenOS: https://samsungtizenos.com/

Perhaps an Android exodus would scare Google enough to backtrack on the registration agenda.

#KeepAndroidOpen

[oldherl@comfy.social]

@fdroidorg@floss.social I live in China. We don't have representatives to contact. Even Google doesn't provide service to users here directly. Please do NOT show the useless header to users from China. I love F-Droid and FOSS in general but the header would be useless and annoying.

[crazyeddie@mastodon.social]

@es0mhi @fdroidorg I was really just asking what I should post to the "report a violation" form.

I actually looked on the site some after and there's actually nothing. There's no way for someone in the US to petition anyone about this. Can send to congressmen to try to get it worked out later maybe...

The sad fact is there's no law being violated here that I know of. Can't report a violation if there isn't one.

[inaba@blahaj.zone]

@fdroidorg@floss.social @marcprux@mastodon.social i just want big brother not watching everyone's every move, holy hell.
i only use ggle services because of how popular they are, while minimizing what ggle i use

[es0mhi@tilde.zone]

@crazyeddie @fdroidorg

Thank you for the clarification and apologies for my misinterpretation.

I have no idea about the legal situation in the US. But perhaps the fact that you can see no ground for action against this unscrupulousness, shows what we are dealing with: a (capitalist) system that has become completely detached from the true interests of its members, unchallengeable and without alternative

[v_d_richards@literatur.social]

@fdroidorg @marcprux

Does anyone know how this affects phones that already have F-Droid and apps from there installed?

Will some Android/Google Update make them stop working all of a sudden? Or not let me update them anymore? Or will this affect only future Android versions?

[v_d_richards@literatur.social]

@Preuk @fdroidorg @marcprux

Can you give me a link where you contacted in the EU and how? I am a bit overwhelmed on where to report my concerns.

[fdroidorg@floss.social]

@v_d_richards @Preuk https://keepandroidopen.org/ ?