Just think of it: you are the author of the ICE tracker app. You want to release the app as anonymously as possible, right? Well, not with this move in place. You will need to upload your govt. Id to their website. If the pigs come knocking, you bet your ass GOOG will gladly hand it over to them and off you go to Florida.
petrjanda@gonzo.markets 1 week ago
As a user I don’t have a problem with this , as long it’s used ethically. The question is if Google can act ethically.
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
You don’t have a problem with Google dictating what you can and cannot do on your own phone? Seriously?
What’s the benefit of that?
petrjanda@gonzo.markets 1 week ago
I guess I was brought up believing that if you do nothing wrong, theres no point hiding your identity.
I’m fine knowing the person who wrote the code of the app that I am about to install has had courage to identify themselves.
AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
That’s interesting, where did you grow up? I grew up believing everybody had the right to privacy. And to not provide your identity to strangers on the internet
It’s like gay marriage. If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. But don’t support restricting the freedom of others because it won’t effect you
petrjanda@gonzo.markets 1 week ago
I grew up in Czechoslovakia and Australia, more Australia really. There might be a genuine reason why google is doing it or not. Most things require an identity these days. You cant drive without an identity , you can’t purchase alcohol without an one, of open a bank account. Where does your privacy feeling stand there I suppose you don’t have any of that? I’m actually amazed with so much fraud on the internet governments don’t require an ID to open a browser on your PC. Isn’t internet like a network of highways really ?
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 1 week ago
“I don’t mind living under a dictatorship as long as it’s just the people I don’t care about getting murdered.”
echolalia@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
As a user, you should be upset that a private company is controlling how you are allowed to use your device that you paid for with your money.
This would be like if Microsoft decided you could only run Microsoft-approved code on a computer you purchased, in some cases with a locked bootloader so you can’t even change your OS.
Also, Google is (imho) already operating unethically when it comes to the app store (See Google v. Epic). I don’t care about Fortnite, but Google really shouldn’t be able to take a cut of random services just because it’s running on Android.
petrjanda@gonzo.markets 1 week ago
Doesn’t upset me, why? Because it’s not about controlling what app I install, but who wrote the app I might install. If my understanding is not correct of this change , I’m happy to be shown I’m wrong.
echolalia@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
I think that other guy’s comment about the ICE tracker app really highlights the most important problem: If only signed apps can run, governments can pressure companies to remove access to certain apps. Even if Google allowed posting the app, the author would have to de-anonymize himself, and Google would have to comply with the law if they were subpoenaed. They would definitely give up the author’s name. It is an issue of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to do with your device what you choose to do with it. You might not have a use for it (right now) but it’s not necessarily something you’d want to give up.
And, honestly, I would personally be affected by this, eventually. I use an app called NewPipe to watch youtube. It already isn’t available on the app store (violates google’s ToS), and I doubt they’d let people install this even if the author properly identified themselves, because I use it to avoid watching adds and to be able to “subscribe” to channels without an account. I could just borrow my husband’s premium subscription, I guess, but I really only use NewPipe to watch certain things, and it lacks the algorithmically driven feed (which I am actively avoiding, Google tends to suggest things that make you angry for clicks).
petrjanda@gonzo.markets 1 week ago
I don’t know about America or to be honest at all what ICE tracker does, but if I was to assume that it somehow tracks government agents where they go, there might be laws against that.