F-droid doesn't want to track number of installs because that is an invasion of privacy.
> require developer verification, but also allow third party appstores like f-droid that don't require verification
Now you've moved the problem from Google gatekeeping apps to Google gatekeeping app stores. We don't want either.
Yeah, if google gets to have rules over what happens by apps that have their seal of approval. that's how seals of approvals work. you're not entitled to these things. you don't have the right to publish to the android platform, if Google, wary of anti-trust suits allows a 3rd party app store, it can institute reasonable requirements.
If an appstore is willingly hosting malware, should Google still provide their seal of approval? That was supposed to be rhetoric, but I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that they should.
This is willful ignorance, I only hope you educate yourself on the harms caused by malware and malicious actors and consider taking a practical approach to finding solutions instead of dying on every single hill.
I want to distribute apps (someone might also want to simply sell them), not publish them
I don't need a publisher, internet is a publishing media already
> you don't have the right to publish to the android platform
then let me install an alternative OS on the HW i legally bought and own or pay me back.
> the harms caused by malware and malicious actors
life is full of people doing harms and malicious actors, but we don't let Google or any other company gatekeep our lives
Yeah, you're certainly not speaking for malware victims here. android is not your life, so google gatekeeping android (actually only google approved builds) is not gatekeeping your life.
You certainly should be able to load an alternative OS. isn't that what lineage and other android distributions do already?
Your freedoms are not the subject of this topic, not even remotely. Google isn't even banning you from doing anything on android phone, this is strictly about approving android builds by phone vendors, you're not even the subject here. Google doesn't want to approve android builds that allow sideloading. You can still install lineage.
Your argument here is actually "fascist authoritarian", you want to impose your views on the general public, that sideloading should be enabled. Having an option for yourself and other willing people to just not just vendor built android is not enough, you want the public to also leave the gates open so you can sideload your random apk's.
Oh, and for the record, my post was about finding a compromise, not a false dichotomy as you presented. If you made a car without a seatbelt it won't be allowed on the roads, if a phone vendor also builds an unsafe android where random devs an sideload apks, that shouldn't be allowed. Forget Google, governments should be enforcing the sideload ban lol.
You don't appreciate your freedoms and insist on abusing them, so actual freedoms end up being taken away!
How are people being obtuse for refusing to compromise for solutions on a problem which doesn’t exist?
You can’t misrepresent the situation, establish that one American company having absolute control on what people do with their devices is somehow the norm and then complain that people won’t meet you halfway.
I'll give you the benefit of doubt and assume you're just not well informed.
Millions of people are losing billions of dollars. Women are having their private media published to the masses. People are getting divorces, fired from jobs,etc.. because of android malware. The problem is nearly non-existent on iPhones to the most part, because they lock that down (but now thanks to "my freedom" type of freedom abusers are changing that too).
Apple already does this. You can't publish a driver for Windows without verifying your identity and buying an expensive code signing cert. Google isn't doing anything new, matter of fact, they're not doing enough! this still permits things like lineageos and other android builds to be installed -- that's your freedom. But since the prevailing sentiment is to resist a more secure way of doing things, the outcome will be that all smartphones will only load signed kernels/firmware in the future, and all signers will be required to id themselves, this will kill a lot of android builds.
This is why compromise is important. Your liberties are important to you, but you can't just dismiss the harm to the masses like that and refuse to find a compromise or a solution, that's how you lose what little freedom you have.
This is why things like "chat control" keep creeping up, and they will succeed down the road.
