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.
I filled out this EU DMA form and I wrote the following:
"Google unilaterally decreed that Android developers everywhere in the world are going to be required to register centrally with Google. This further threatens access to open software and the right to install software of choice on Android devices such as smartphones. This constitutes yet another obstacle to digital sovereignty. Furthermore, it is an antitrust issue because it serves Google’s aim to establish a monopoly over the Android software ecosystem.
It is of vital importance that platforms such as the F-droid store can continue to offer open software independently from the influence of Google and the USA.
Please table this matter for discussion. It is vital that the EU puts in place and enforces legislation that prevents companies like Google from harming user’s ability to run software of their choosing on the devices that they own.
Please see Google’s unilateral decree:
…googleblog.com/…/elevating-android-security.html"
grte@lemmy.ca 3 days ago
I get a lot of value out of F-Droid, my ass is going to be very chapped if Google manages to kill it.
snoons@lemmy.ca 3 days ago
Truly. The majority of the apps I use are from f-droid, without them I might as well have a flip phone.