Posted by kaplun 8 hours ago
Scammers will use stolen identities or shell companies. They already do this on the Play Store itself. The $25 fee and passport upload haven't prevented the flood of scam apps there.
Meanwhile F-Droid's model (build from source, scan for trackers/malware) actually provides stronger guarantees about what the app does. No identity check needed because the code speaks for itself.
The permission-based approach someone mentioned above makes way more sense. If your app wants to read SMS or intercept notifications, sure, require extra scrutiny. But a simple calculator app or a notes tool? That's just adding friction for no security benefit.
No permission system can work as well as a proper solution (such as banks and governments getting their shit together and investing in basic digital skills for their citizens).
This just trains everyone to blindly click "accept" thus adding zero security while making the UX terrible for people who know what they're doing
I have an APK I would like you to install on your personal phones. No, I won't tell you who I am.
Please let me know when you are comfortable with this.
If you want to make the decision to install Hay Day, the user should be able to know that it is the Hay Day from Supercell or from Sketchy McMalwareson.
99.9% of apps should have no issue with their name being associated with their work. If you genuinely need to use an anonymously published app, you will still be able to do that as a user.
I'm pretty sure the goal of Google's changes is to make it so you can't
If you like to not be able to run whatever software you want on your computer, and the one your family owns, that's your thing.
Its another pretense, like disabling full disk encryption, where people came with these ideas (instead of other options), because its convenient to them to pretend its the right thing.
You might say people shouldn’t be so dumb, or that we should educate them, but the fact is that it happens. If you allow unreviewed apps, people get scammed at a higher rate. If you allow a backdoor, people get scammed at a higher rate. People still get scammed with app store review, but the difference between 1%, .9%, and .8% is millions of lives ruined.
I’m a hacker at heart and I like general purpose computers, but when a tool becomes essential, it can ruin lives. You have to consider your externalities. Otherwise you are a factory dumping pollution in the river.
This debate is an interesting collision between the well being of the general public versus a tiny, elite class (hackers) and their ideology.