Guardian Project @guardianproject@librem.one

#Luanti removed from Google Play due to baseless AI copyright notice

https://blog.luanti.org/2026/08/27/luanti-dmca-tracer-ai/

#FreeSoftware #OpenSource

Fair use is not a loophole in copyright. It is a core principle that helps creativity, education, and culture thrive. ⚖️📖

In RECLAIMING FAIR USE, copyright scholars Patricia Aufderheide & Peter Jaszi explain how understanding copyright's balance make it easier for creators, educators, librarians, and researchers to confidently use their rights. ✍️🏛️

In conversation with Dave Hansen on the Future Knowledge #podcast.

🎧 Listen & subscribe:
https://futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/reclaiming-fair-use

@AuthorsAlliance @paufder

We urge the @EUCommission to scrutinise Apple's announcement closely and reject it as non-compliant with the #DMA.

These concerns were already raised in a complaint to the European Commission filed by @Freiheitsrechte and @article19, which the FSFE contributed to.

https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025.10.22_Complaint-against-Apple-Digital-Markets-Act.pdf

A new fee waiver could help some not-for-profit projects, and we welcome that. But it changes nothing about notarization, developer accounts, or entry thresholds. For #FreeSoftware, this is not the substantial shift the #DMA should deliver, and we have been highlighting this in our latest report.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20523420

On top of that, every developer still needs an Apple Developer Account just to distribute software at all, no matter the channel.

Entry barriers for developers stay high: despite a waiver for not for profit projects, to open an alternative marketplace you need financial guarantees worth up to €1 million, or must already reach 1 million first annual installs. Small projects rarely meet either bar.

The biggest issue: #notarization. Every app must pass Apple's automatic and human review before it can run on iOS, even when distributed outside the App Store, via an alternative marketplace or a website.

No channel escapes Apple's gatekeeping.

Once notarized, Apple encrypts the binary. Nobody can run, inspect, or share that software freely. This makes it impossible to distribute #FreeSoftware apps, as the freedoms cannot be guaranteed.

#Apple has announced new terms for alternative app distribution in the EU (18 August 2026). The reduction of fees is welcome, but the core problems for smaller developers and #FreeSoftware remain there.

🧵A thread on why we're still concerned about #DMA compliance.🧵