#Signal has a beta that makes it possible to chat without sharing your phone number with the others. This is an important development for privacy in use cases like journalists and activists that have to privately interact with people they do not know. Careful about using a public username for Signal, it could open you up to spam and targeted attacks like Pegasus.
@timbray Using a well known username for #Signal is a recipe for receiving lots of spam. I'll bet that's the main reason why Signal does not currently have much spam. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to use my public handle. Signal does well with smaller numbers of people and less active chats. Very active chats or large groups are quite painful in my experience as compared to @element Signal's use case is communicating with people you know, while #Matrix #IRC #Mastodon are for big/active groups
How Allowing #Copyright On #AI-Generated Works Could Destroy Creative Industries - https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/20/how-allowing-copyright-on-ai-generated-works-could-destroy-creative-industries/ "it is not in the interest of artists to allow copyright on AI-generated works, whatever Big Copyright might have them believe."
#Apple and #Google are also acting as #gatekeepers when it comes to medical, health and wellness software. #SurveillanceCapitalism and #monopoly control do not belong in health care.
One down, three to go!
#Tiktok: we're not a #gatekeeper and this will expose our shady #surveillance business to the world mimimimi
Court of Justice: yeah whatever, no. 👏
#ECJ #DMA #digitalmarketsact #Competition
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2024-02/cp240028en.pdf
Thanks @eighthave! IMHO by running an F-Droid repo (whether it builds from source or just offers binaries) intended to be used by others, one accepts responsibility. So one should take the best possible measures to make it as safe and as transparent as possible. I try my best here, and I won't stop where I'm standing now – but hopefully improve it even more. 🤞 @fdroidorg
Yet another piece of evidence to support #Marx's idea that #socialism is inevitable: #VentureCapital #BigTech and financial firms are funding #FreeSoftware without an equity stake. These are supposed to be the true capitalists but are funding a system of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Why? Because it works better than what capitalism can provide. I have a lot of problems with Marx but his economics is looking ever more solid https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/15/sequoia-open-source-fellowship-developer-funding/
⚠️ Putting a price tag on the reject button means selling our fundamental rights. Together with over 20 NGOs, we warn of a fatal loophole in EU privacy laws if "pay or okay" tactics are allowed. The European Data Protection Board's opinion will shape the future of data protection. https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/15/no-consent-or-pay-pls/?guccounter=2
@IzzyOnDroid @fdroidorg I think the #IzzySoftRepo is a good example of how a binary repo should be run: clear criteria for inclusion, good marking of Anti-Features, regular enforcement action, etc. Indeed @IzzyOnDroid caught the missing Anti-Features on the Guardian Project repo wth one of his scans. Thanks again!
One concrete example of the damage that #BigTech #gatekeeper companies like #Apple and #Google are doing to the mobile ecosystems is clear to see with media codec libraries. Right now, malware companies like #NSOGroup have maintained zero-click exploits in both #iOS and #Android for years. This is mostly via media exploits. iOS and Android have obscene profit margins, meaning both companies have plenty of cash for improving things. Yet where is the big outflow for fixing media codecs?
@guardianproject @fdroidorg Guardian Project would welcome contributions that replace the proprietary bits with equivalent free bits. I think #MapLibre can totally replace Google Maps now, but the apps in question were implemented before MapLibre was an option.
@greypilgrim @guardianproject @fdroidorg oops, I guess we got it out sooner than expected :)
We have been running an #FDroid-compatible repository since 2012! Since then, the free software ecosystem on Android has blossomed, meaning @fdroidorg can be properly strict about #FreeSoftware. A couple of our apps still have a couple #proprietary blobs that are requirements. F-Droid no longer includes any third party repos by default, that means our repo is no longer there by default. It is still easy and safe to add it! Read on for more info:
https://guardianproject.info/2024/02/24/the-future-of-our-fdroid-compatible-app-repository/
#PeerTube, born in 2017, is more than an alternative; it's about freedom and user-friendly options. Its impact spans institutions, educators, content creators, independent media, and citizens worldwide. With over 1,000 instances, hosting nearly 1 million videos and 567 million views, PeerTube achieved this with less than 0.0022% of YouTube's ad revenues in 2022.
https://www.ngi.eu/news/2023/30/11/ngi-forum-2023-pouhiou-lafon/
Direct link to Video:
https://tube.network.europa.eu/w/7dBJNS6bsNhLbpg9PNv1qW
#NGI #ngi4eu #PeerTube #pouhiou
@daniel If Google Play accepted source code for their review process, then they could be a lot more accurate. Seems crazy that they don't even offer it as an option.
@cketti that sounds good, but why post sources-34_r01.zip then fix something, then re-post sources-34_r01.zip? They have a revision number there for a reason, e.g. sources-34_r02.zip. It just seems so sloppy.
The newer version of sources-34_r01.zip is 8MB smaller, that's really strange:
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/android-sdk-transparency-log/-/commit/b36d6298c4dfcfe5e4ec01f8c5ca31deb5f2ba31#496b23f98c1ff561799bd78b98f5d844174c944f_1349_1349
I wish the #AndroidSDK team would follow repository best practices and stop silently reissuing binary releases under the same name/version. #MavenCentral does not allow this, for example. The #FDroid transparency log shows the newest violation: two version of sources-34_r01.zip with the file name, version code, and metadata.
@vitriolix "some unknown reason Lenin make Ukraine independent from Russia" lol, turns out there were so many people Ukraine fighting with their lives against not only empires like Russia but also against Communism in general. Ukraine was a hotbed of anarchism, for example, and then there were republicans, nationalists, and various other ethic groups that wanted independence. #Putin of course ignores all that.
Good thing the #Apple App Store is secure, it would be a shame if the #DigitalMarketsAct allowed alternative platforms to set up shop and start pushing fake software to #iOS devices...