So if I want to release a free android game my options are.

A: Hope Google doesn't change course again.

B: Give Google a copy of my apartment lease,

Would be too hard for them to ya know actually implement sandboxing which would prevent this.

Anything aside from full bootloader access means I'm renting my device.

Too late now though.

I assume the results of my actions and I accept that if something bad is going to happen, it's my fault. I am fine with that.

I want the same kind of freedom on my phone, a device I own and I payed for with my own money. I am not smarter when using the PC and dumber when using the phone. I want to be able to opt out of verification and install whatever I want.

1) announce decision that will make everything even worse

2) wait for negative opinion

3) announce walking back on the decision

4) observe general sense of relief

The only way this can be stopped is to make it costly to even announce "decisions making everything worse"

Lets not celebrate prematurely and let us wait for more details on whats actually changing both technically and process wise. We should demand more clarity and should not wait to discover it after the implementation at which point it is hard and nearly impossible to push back against.

We don't want to be in a situation where they technically make it possible but make it practically impossible to install apps outside playstore.

Can I use FDroid?