Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one
Joined Aug 2019
#EU citizens support actions against #BigTech. About 90% of those polled support them. So #Apple really don't not care about #democracy. Mmmm too much sweet monopoly profits 🤑
https://www.politico.eu/article/europeans-agree-eu-should-enforce-rules-big-tech-says-poll/
#BigTech #EU #EuropeanCommission #DMA #DigitalMarketsAct #DigitalSovereignity
Wow is #Apple shameless in their attacks on the #DigitalMarketsAct! Yes, the #DMA affects them in ways they don't like, that's why we have the it! Then they do all this crap instead of earnestly engaging with the #EU democratic process. And now they are lobbying to have this very popular law repealed. This just reconfirms how much the world needs to break the #BigTech monopolies. They have more money than sense and are resorting to despotic tactics to protect profits.
#Google's competition lawyers claim that uninstalling is the same as "disabling" even though Android itself says they are not the same:
"If you disable this app, Android and other apps may no longer function as intended. Keep in mind, you can't delete this app since it came pre-installed on your device. By disabling, you turn this app off and hide it on your device."
There is no such warning when uninstalling:
"Do you want to uninstall this app?"
For anyone who wants to know what #Google's lawyers for the #DigitalMarketsAct think about the law, they publish on it:
#Google presented their AI-based app review at #DMAWorkshop. Many apps are falsely flagged by #GooglePlay. Lots of trusted app developers built their reputation on free and open source software #Nextcloud #Signal #Thunderbird and more. These developers welcome more scrutiny on their source code. Why doesn't Google Play allow app developers to upload source code to provide more accurate reviews? How about requiring Google's own apps go through the same review?
Given that technical details are key to many of the questions of #DMA enforcement, why doesn't #Alphabet include technical staff in these compliance workshops? It feels to me that they want to stick strictly to an evasive legal strategy rather than constructively engage with the technical community around #Android.
#Google #DigitalMarketsAct #DMAWorkshop #EC #EuropeanCommission
A question to #Google about whether they could allowlist apps for sideloading they know to be legit. They punted and gave a weak attempt at a technical reason. They say their is a 100 million apps out there, so how could they ever? And malicious apps can impersonate the Application ID. Sure, true, but they could also allowlist based on all the signing keys, which cannot be simply faked and they already manage in #GooglePlay
#DigitalMarketsAct #Alphabet #EuropeanCommission #EC #DMA #DMAWorkshop
https://eupolicy.social/@ilumium is posting lots of key info about the #DigitalMarketsAct Follow him for more!
Good morning from the #EuropeanCommission #DigitalMarketsAct compliance workshop on #Alphabet that is focused on things like #Google #search #browser choice #GooglePlay #Android and more.
When does #Apple plan to fix the security issues that only affect third party browsers? #Safari is not affected by these leaks but it affects all the other browser vendors. Eg:
* Inability to tunnel like Safari does, hence protect user's privacy
* Tunnel audio/video traffic
* Stop leaking IP addresses through share sheets and WebRTC
An open call to #Android #developers! The #EuropeanCommission needs help evaluating #GooglePlay's #security claims. I'm going to do what I can. Anyone with knowledge of how app installation, uninstallation, sandboxing, signing, etc. could really help here. If you want to contribute, please reach out!
I think #Apple's strategy is just wast everyone's time and delay so they can push things through the courts. Their #monopoly profits on #iOS are just so vast that this approach will mean biggest profits than actually engaging with the democratic process and complying with the #DMA . It feels almost pointless listening to Apple's answers, they mostly just rehash more marketing points and waste time with blah blah.
#Crowdstrike is a great example for how not to do interop. #microsoft acknowledged that and changed their malware scanning interop setup so that all scanners, including their own, no longer have highly privileged access to the operating system.
#Apple comes out fighting again, lots of stalling and pure marketing claims rather than concrete answers.
#Google funds this #EU think tank to put out policy papers saying #DigitalMarketsAct will break their lovely #PlayProtect scare screens, making us all less safe and "it require[s] Google to allow developers to insert links inside their Play Store apps".
https://ecipe.org/publications/eu-dma-undermine-security-mobile-operating-systems/#_ftn13
As I've always said in relation to the #DMA, let @fdroidorg compete on trustworthiness. I'd love to see this think thank include analysis malware rates of #CalyxOS with #FDroid and compare that to #GooglePlay #security
This is the example of the kind of feature that the #DigitalMarketsAct is driving #Google to implement. It could have been implemented long ago, but there was no pressure for Google to do so. Notice how they implemented it in #PlayServices, not Android. Apps that implement this are then tied to Google's proprietary stuff. That's their way of maintaining control of the ecosystem. https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/21/24302562/android-restore-credentials-transfer-restore-key
On my own time, I have to read a ~50 page document produced for the #EuropeanCommission in order to effectively participate in a two hour meeting where #FDroid is pitted against #BigTech on the #DigitalMarketsAct and its requirements around installing and allowing other #AppStore options.
Its all NDA'ed so I can't ask for help.
This game is really rigged for the megacorps. Wish me luck! Here's to fighting the good fight!
Joined Aug 2019
