F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨BrikoX@lemmy.zip⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.zip⁩

https://f-droid.org/en/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html

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.

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grte@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ 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.

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- snoons@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Truly. The majority of the apps I use are from f-droid, without them I might as well have a flip phone.
  
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witty_username@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
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"

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Deebster@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
The author seemed to struggle with their CMS, but you can get the gist.

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- 87Six@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  … Why are you being downvoted for pointing it out wtf…
  
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  - Deebster@infosec.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Yeah, I was confused too. Perhaps they didn’t see any problem and instead of realising the page had been edited after I commented they just downvoted.
    
    Back to that article, I wonder if they were trying to add links into their footnotes and that broke stuff. They seemed to have fixed it by deleting them all, but that’s quite a lot of content gone.
    
    E.g. after pairing up the broken footnotes with their endings that stayed in the main text you can see these:
    
    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
    
    ‘> “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/
    
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