Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one
Joined Aug 2019
#Google said it has no involvement of OEM's including app stores by default. To ship an #GooglePlay device, it has to comply with secret NDA'd "GMS Compliance", which requires OEMs to justify to Google pre-installed app store needs to access the same APIs that Play uses to install and uninstall apps. Somehow, I don't think Google will stop requiring OEMs be granted permission by Google to include the app stores of their choosing.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Haha #Google bitches against #Apple: "We allow 3rd party app stores, #sideloading, automatic updates for sideloaded apps, and #PWA for free."
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
I really like the phrase malicious compliance.
There's a lot of that going on so many levels. Not just #DMA and finally I can call it out with one single phrase.
#GooglePlay's competition is more than just businesses. Free software communities, governments, non-profits, and institutions are already making #Android app stores.
#Google desparately wants to limit the scope of the #DMA as much as possible, and wants the European Commission that #GooglePlayServices is not part of the operating system, even though users cannot uninstall it. Google is even working to change the definition of "uninstall" so that it means the same as what #Android currently calls "disabling". Even Google Play itself will entirely delete the app when users click "uninstall" except of course for the stuff where Google prevents uninstallation.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
It looks like #Apple is using salami tactics with the @EU_Commission on #DMA compliance, giving up tiny slices in hope that might sway (and shut up) the regulator and the public.
I sincerely hope the Commission's enforcement team is not being fooled by this.
#DigitalMarketsAct #competition #appstore #appfreedom #foss
Source: #PoliticoPro newsletter
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
I'm sitting in the @EU_Commission #DMA compliance workshop for #Apple right now and as much as I appreciate the format, it's frustrating to see that Apple is the only party on the panel and in addition has its proxies like #CCIA and the #AppAssociation #ACT in the audience that are allowed to ask convenient questions and steer the discussion in Apple's interest.
#DigitalMarketsAct #competition #appfreedom #deviceneutrality #foss
@SebastienK @1br0wn also consider that the #gatekeeper companies are trying to slow the process down as much as possible. If you think the #DigitalMarketsAct is slow, then you should look at anti-trust lawsuits. They often take a decade then don't really change anything. The #DMA is already looking like a big improvement in comparison.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
We have a new blog post 
.
@uniqx wrote about how we handle our servers to protect your privacy: https://f-droid.org/2024/03/08/privacy-design-of-fdroid.org-webservers.html #FDroid
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
With today's votes on #CRA and #PLD on the introduction of liability rules for software, a broad exception for #FreeSoftware was made, so that after long and intense debates individual developers and non for profit work are safeguarded.
https://fsfe.org/news/2024/news-20240312-01.html #SoftwareFreedom
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
@matthew_d_green "differential privacy" is not a privacy tool, in my opinion. It just slightly reduces how bad the privacy issues are, but they are still all there. The privacy must be provided in a different way, like via regulations like #GDPR or health data laws. "Differential privacy" definitely seems to be very valuable as a PR tool to respond to #SurveillanceCapitalism to hide what is really going on.
@daniel of course sandboxes improve #security. It is important to remember that sandboxes by definition are sets of restrictions. If a sandbox only restricts things you don't use, you win. Sandbox restrictions often break features that users want. Since I'm focused on #UserFreedom and #FreeSoftware, I want community control over which restrictions are in place. #Android does not provide that unless you have the skills to hack and make your own ROM, even then its hard. #Debian does provide that.
Want to see a visual example of why #beef and #dairy have such a big #climate impact? Massive amounts of water and resources go to growing cheap alfalfa, which is mostly cattle feed.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/05/us/arizona-water-foreign-owned-farms-climate/index.html
#ACM took another big step towards "transition[ing] to a fully Open Access publisher... under a financially sustainable model". #OpenAccess publishing is clearly the future of disseminating academic, scientific, and medical knowledge. Not so long ago, people were being jailed for opening up access while the publishers were not.
@olasd @interpipes I understand why DSA would make that choice, I'm not faulting them. My goal is to raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and to increase user privacy. That requires transparency about what happens with the data and metadata, and commitments from any organizations running the mirrors.
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
Docusign just admitted that they use customer data (i.e., all those contracts, affidavits, and other confidential documents we send them) to train AI:
They state that customers "contractually consent" to such use, but good luck finding it in their Terms of Service. There also doesn't appear to be a way to withdraw consent, but I may have missed that.
@andydavies @neil I'm looking for actual privacy policies since those would be legally binding and the company could be help liable for violations. I've seen a lot of language like that, it promises little, since it has broad, vague exceptions like "except where explicitly stated in the Documentation and related to the functional performance of the services". Like, if some gov asks nicely for data, would handing it over be considered "functional performance of the services"?
@miyuru Does the AWS mirror have a clearer privacy policy somewhere? That front page is just as minimal as the Fastly one
@andydavies @neil that would be nice, do you have any documentation on that?
Joined Aug 2019
