Guardian Project @guardianproject@librem.one

Worried about the future of installing your own software on your Android device? @conservancy is hosting a Q&A to update you about sideloading software as well as other tips about how to ensure your phone runs the software you want, without any artificial restrictions. Join us on BigBlueButton this Friday September 5th at 15:00 UTC (08:00 US/Pacific, 11:00 US/Eastern, 17:00 CEST)

https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2025/sep/3/sfc-qa-on-how-to-keep-your-sideloading/

Element users on the default http://matrix.org homeserver are currently impacted by a serious database outage (https://mastodon.matrix.org/@matrix/115136245785561439)which will take at least 12 hours to recover - many apologies to everyone impacted. Users on their own deployments are of course unaffected.

Thank you @grote for sharing this.

In addition to telling #Google that locking down #Android is bad, I'd also recommend every app developer to write to the @EUCommission's #DMA enforcement team and tell them that this practically circumvents Article 6(4) of the #DigitalMarketsAct, which was supposed to *enable* 3rd party app (stores).

The EC is discussing the same question with #Apple atm and they have to understand what happens if they let this happen.

Contact form:
https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/contact-dma-team_en

Alas, it is time for more uncomfortable questions, in this case regarding the announced Android developer verification program: https://commonsware.com/blog/2025/08/26/uncomfortable-questions-android-developer-verification.html #AndroidDev

Let's carry on our legal series, in part two we will discuss jurisdiction, legal entities and liability in #FLOSS #FOSS.

Ever wondered “What laws apply to #FDroid ?" We had to...

Just 12 minutes of your time: https://f-droid.org/2025/08/20/legat-two.html

(And yes, that typo in the URL will stay there forever 🙄)

A really great post on about how governments should be funding the free open source software that our governments and societies rely on.

https://dri.es/funding-open-source-like-public-infrastructure

#FOSS #FreeSoftware #funding #government #sustainability #DigitalSovereignity #EU #SovereignTechFund

Want to fight for Palestinian #digitalrights? There is a super interesting job vacancy for #policy #advocacy folks at @7amleh :

https://7amleh.org/post/vacancy:-advocacy-department-manager

#Palestine #humanrights #FediJobs #jobs #MastoJobs #NGOjobs

@fdroidorg We have to put a lot of trust in a couple of systems: the signing server and the production buildserver. That is why they are not easy to upgrade. That provides key benefits down the line, like knowing that the client app will always receive uncompromised files, no matter where it downloads the files from (e.g. verification via the signed index). Thanks for your patience while we work in getting new hardware into our trusted #secure #maintenance setup. 1/2

Oh dear, the Belgian government's #cybersecurity centre manages to write an entire page about the #EndOf10 without mentioning any other operating system than #Microsoft #Windows. Instead of telling people they might want switch to e.g. #Linux, they suggest to:

* pay Microsoft for #ESU, or
* buy a new computer. 😤

https://safeonweb.be/fr/actualite/windows-10-cessera-bientot-ses-mises-jour-comment-rester-en-securite-sur-internet

Journalist Discovers Google Vulnerability That Allowed People to Disappear Specific Pages From Search

🔗https://www.404media.co/journalist-discovers-google-vulnerability-that-allowed-people-to-disappear-specific-pages-from-search/

Europe has a unicorn obsession, and frankly it needs to stop. 🦄

The EU is pouring €43 billion through the CHIPS act into creating "European champions," but we're missing the bigger picture: why are we treating essential tech infrastructure as private property instead of public commons?

We need a different approach. One that serves public benefit over private extraction. Read my thoughts here: https://tarakiyee.com/the-hardware-innovation-monopoly-problem-why-europe-should-stop-chasing-unicorns/

#OpenHardware #TechPolicy #DigitalSovereignty #PublicInterestTech

📣 Is "disable" the same as "uninstall"? We do not believe it. Google does.

Under the DMA, the FSFE with a coalition of civil-society organisations prompts the @EUCommission to open proceedings to investigate Alphabet's (#Google) regarding the uninstallation of pre-installed apps in Android.

Uninstalling is completely removing the app, not just disabling it! This is key for #DeviceNeutrality!

📎 https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Joint-DMA-complaint-Alphabet-for-publication.pdf

#SoftwareFreedom #DMA

It felt like kindergarten to do it but this week we @edri +others filed a complaint against #Google with the @EUCommission for breach of the #DigitalMarketsAct.

Despite the #DMA's clear obligation for #gatekeepers to allow you to uninstall pre-installed apps, #Alphabet claims this can also mean disabling. Yes seriously.

So we wrote a 7-page explanation why disable ≠ uninstall.

The complaint was filed together with @article19, @fsfe, @Freiheitsrechte, @HomoDigitalisGR and @vrijschrift 🙏

Unlike many organizations that use third parties to process and manage their donor data, we take a more privacy-preserving approach by choosing the only open-source CRM, @civicrm.org, and self-hosting our data. Your information is secure, stored on servers we control, and never shared. Your privacy and choice to invest in the Tor Project is of utmost importance to us and we appreciate your trust. 🔒
https://blog.torproject.org/our-commitment-to-donor-privacy-at-tor/

In case you missed it: Last week we released a new interview with Sovereign Tech Fellow @hugovk.

Hugo is a leading voice in the Python community. The projects he maintains are downloaded over 280 million times a month, including libraries used in NASA missions. The interview shows how Hugo's passion for contributions has developed into future-proofing the entire Python ecosystem.

🗞️ Read the interview: https://www.sovereign.tech/news/meet-hugo-van-kemenade

#MaintainerSpotlight

Some #Android #SDK packages are updated with a revision number, but #sdkmanager does not allow installs to use that revision number. This sometimes breaks #ReproducibleBuilds. There is an issue open since 2017 about this:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/38045649

If anyone wants this feature, it should be easy to implement in #FDroid's sdkmanager:
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/sdkmanager/-/issues/26

So, the #Austrian Parliament ignores all expert opinion and ratifies a law to allow #statetrojan #spyware to be bought and used, making the whole population less safe while spending tax money on (non-EU) malware instead of more actual police forces. #Karner has won - at least until #VfGh nullifies it (again) - in getting his legal illusion past the Parliament, even though it can't be technically implemented as written in the law.

https://orf.at/stories/3399187/

> Nach jahrelanger Diskussion ist die Messengerüberwachung am Mittwoch vom Nationalrat ermöglicht worden. Widerstand gab es nicht nur von FPÖ und Grünen, sondern auch innerhalb der Koalition von NEOS-Abgeordneten. Mit der Vorlage wird es dem Staatsschutz künftig möglich sein, unverschlüsselte und verschlüsselte Nachrichten bei Diensten wie WhatsApp und Signal auszulesen.

Does anyone know of any #FreeSoftware implementations of the #RCS encrypted messaging protocol? There is the nine year old
https://github.com/android-rcs/rcsjta I wonder if that is usable?

#E2EE #Android #messaging