Hans-Christoph Steiner @eighthave@librem.one
Joined Aug 2019
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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I've been an Android developer for … *checks calendar* … more than 15 years. It was a nice enough platform and the developer community is awesome.
But with Google's planned changes to turn Android into yet another walled garden, I'm seriously considering doing something else 😞
A key problem in the debate around #Israel/#Palestine is that it is framed as two sides of one coin: either you support Israel otherwise you support Palestine. I support none of those in power there, #Netanyahu, #Hamas, Palestinian Authority, the Israeli regime, etc. are all corrupt, brutal and lead to suffering for the vast majority of the people they claim to represent. Only those in power benefit currently. I support good governance for all the people who live there.
If we want to make this #EU #BrainGain permanent, and make real research centers, we'll have to do more than just be less bad than Trump. Academic culture everywhere in Europe is very conservative and hierarchical. Researchers massed in the #US because academia there are more focused on the work, and less about who is who, and who has which title. Austrian Academy of Sciences celebrates "Thanks to Trump we are seeing this brain gain" rather than "our great universities"
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-research-council-funding-us-researchers-relocation-europe/
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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Broken links aside (fix incoming), #FDroid raises the case against the #Google developer forced registration once again.
We'll skip the small talk, go read, and better yet, spread this wide and far: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html so people are made aware and actions can be taken and #Android is kept truly open!
#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.
Big companies making money from #porn are complaining that they have to implement age restrictions. They are a $73 billion industry built on the internet and software. They can easily fund the creation of privacy preserving age verification systems on their sites. It is not that hard. I think they actually don't care about the privacy of their users. The websites should do the age verification, then access methods like VPNs are irrelevant.
https://www.politico.eu/article/porn-industry-austrian-marcello-bravo-tech-rules-eu-policy/
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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"In #Canada, #Brazil, #Colombia, #Indonesia and #Australia and beyond, tech giants like #Google and #Meta have deployed aggressive #lobbying strategies to derail or weaken legislation aimed at regulating digital platforms — often through opaque influence networks and #disinformation campaigns. The biggest casualty? The public’s right to reliable information."
New reporting out by Reporters Without Borders together with 17 news outlets:
@aleksandrayulia have you or any other #GrapheneOS people looked into #GooglePlay "advanced protection"? It is designed to make it easy to prevent apps from running on non-Play devices.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10183279
"...adds an encryption layer to your app's anti-tampering defenses. This prevents the app from running on insecure devices, making it much harder for attackers to analyze or tamper with it in those environments."
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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“Try to minimize what you take with you across the border to only the essentials,” EFF’s @legind advises international travelers in @WIRED. “If you are taking a vacation, do you really need that work laptop with you?” https://www.wired.com/story/1password-travel-mode/
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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I was really hoping things might get better with GDPR enforcement at its Irish lead regulator, but this is Ireland giving the middle finger to EU data protection and to a democratically governed digital society.
https://noyb.eu/en/former-meta-lobbyist-named-dpc-commissioner-meta-now-officially-regulates-itself
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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The intersection of the new #Google Developer Verification Policy and the #EU #DMA needs to be pondered.
Article 6.4? Yes, in need of an update, sooner rather than later.
#FDroid keeps showing the way forward: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/22/google-developer-verification-policy-and-the-dma.html
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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On 21 October the FSFE 
is participating as intervener in the hearing of the Apple vs.@EUCommission case at the Court of Justice of the EU 🇪🇺 .
This case is a milestone in the enforcement of the #DMA, and it will shape the future of #FreeSoftware and fair digital markets.
💪 Support us so we can keep defending user rights against big tech monopolies!
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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Hans-Christoph Steiner
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We're not only building #opensource, we're also using open source - whether it's Odoo, Nextcloud, Matrix, Drupal. What are your favorite open-source tools? 😎
The demo gods also really do not want more #glasshole tech in the world:
Free Software is the only way to ensure digital sovereignty and independence. Kudos to the Austrian Military for switching to #LibreOffice and perhaps more importantly, it is great that they are already set up to contribute back to the project, and doing so!
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Austria-s-armed-forces-switch-to-LibreOffice-10660761.html
#Austria #Österreich #FreeSoftware #FOSS #OpenSource #DigitalSovereignity
Hans-Christoph Steiner
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🇺🇦
@eighthave
Yes, that's true - I didn't consider replacing the disabled apps with something conflicting. That _could_ however potentially be added to the disabling function.
#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?"
Hans-Christoph Steiner
boosted
We've hinted before how the #EU #DMA discussions take place, anyone can see them on video from home, but it's a different thing to be able to roam there.
#FDroid's @eighthave was on the floor and brings us the lowdown.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll say "lawyers!!!", but don't turn your eyes away, this is how the sausage is made, raw, straight from the pipe: https://f-droid.org/2025/09/18/ec-dma-compliance-workshops.html
Don't forget to submit the DMA form! 😄
/PS: Yes, the subtitles grow as you read, we're making a point here!
Joined Aug 2019
