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.
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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
@fdroidorg
Ugh, looks like I might be using /e/OS sooner than expected. -
@fdroidorg @marcprux its a good thing actually as the main thing it affects is intimate partner violence stalking and really low hanging fruit malware. you can literally still sideload, you just cant distribute apks anonymously. you can still modify a phone to remove the restriction, just not without the owner noticing, which is the actual point. this is completely out of touch with the reality of the android malware ecosystem, the harm it causes and why they are actually doing this.
@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)? -
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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
@fdroidorg
Thank you for your amazing work. For me its time to switch to Linux in under 200 days. -
@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)?@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. -
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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
@fdroidorg i hope @shiftphones has planned for this already

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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
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
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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
You have to know how to make a report correctly. It's not for average doomscroller.
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@crazyeddie Is the "United States" section is not enough, we might need some better pointers.
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.
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@fdroidorg hey gang, I host @crossed, would anyone from the F-Droid team like to come chat to us about this and why this fundamentally breaks the Android promise?
@jsbilsbrough @fdroidorg I'd be happy to chat. Message or email me and we can set up a time.
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Tagging @EUCommission
@nicolaottomano Oh, that'll work.
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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
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.
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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
@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.
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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.
@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.
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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
@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 @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.
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
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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.
If you care about the freedom to control your devices and care about the privacy of you data, please contact your representative and make your voice heard.
https://keepandroidopen.org/ (thanks @marcprux) has the resources to guide you.
We know users will rarely visit the site so the Client(s) will get a banner soon too.
Thank you for your support!
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?
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@fdroidorg @marcprux
Got a quick answer from EU's DMA Team, they might have a standard response due to high demand :> Dear citizen,
>
> Thank you for contacting us and sharing your concerns regarding the impact of Google’s plans to introduce a developer verification process on Android. We appreciate that you have chosen to contact us, as we welcome feedback from interested parties.
... 1/NCan you give me a link where you contacted in the EU and how? I am a bit overwhelmed on where to report my concerns.
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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.
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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 No info on that, no info on anything actually.
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@fdroidorg @marcprux will this affect lineage phones? (or any other roms)
Directly or indirectly?
@simx72 Custom Android distros can and do choose to free their users from such shackles.