notepad0x90 (u/notepad0x90)

notepad0x90 commented on Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and FOSS apps · Posted by u/nativeforks

gitaarik · 5 hours ago

Right, we have an online community where we share some cool software that we wrote for each other, and then suddenly we need to show our IDs because of "safety".

You are falling for the trap that all these wannabe dictators are setting up for us: that they are protecting us with all these regulations. Oh sure it protects some people in some ways, but you're not seeing how you're giving away your freedom and put them in control of your life.

notepad0x90 · 2 hours ago

I think it's just that certified Google devices are no longer usable for your much smaller use case, because Google prioritized their much larger customers who suffer from harm. Freedom vs security is not the argument here, because there is no expectation of Freedom when it comes to a private business. If you ask me, software licensing and copyrights should entirely be torn down. If google is a monopoly and they are forcing this measure, it might qualify for an anti-trust suit by governments. But if they aren't a monopoly (cooperhead,lineage,etc..) then you should use other options and ditch certified google devices.

I say all of you should give up and use iphones like me! :)

notepad0x90 commented on Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and FOSS apps · Posted by u/nativeforks

ulrikrasmussen · 10 hours ago

I am also doing my part on fighting that, but it is an uphill battle. I will not stop fighting, and I am actively trying to bring my point into the public discourse in my country and organize myself in organizations that fight this.

Until we have laws that guarantee that I won't be forced to be a Google customer, I will demand freedom over my device if I am practically prevented from running an alternative OS because I risk getting my access to the rest of society limited. If it means that some people will be more vulnerable to scams in the mean time, that is not my fault, but the fault of politicians who have failed to secure our right to digital autonomy and our right to remain analog. I also think there should be other technical measures that could mitigate these scams that would not be as draconic, but I don't know enough about what scams you have in mind that I can offer concrete alternatives.

I do not think that is tyranny, but I think Google is definitely being a tyrant and misuse their market position.

notepad0x90 · 2 hours ago

I think two things can be true. I agree with most of what you said. I think Google is doing the right thing with the right intent, but they shouldn't be the sole arbiter of who can write apps. It should be similar to the PKI/CA ecosystem, or better yet, governments can directly issue permits of some sort and they could be the CA's.

notepad0x90 commented on Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and FOSS apps · Posted by u/nativeforks

ulrikrasmussen · 11 hours ago

I AM using GrapheneOS, but its future is also uncertain as Google has gutted AOSP. There aren't really any alternatives, and the problem is that phones are much more than just phones now, they are general purpose computing devices and run many applications that are pretty essential to modern society, such as ticket apps for public transport, government identity apps, payment apps and so on. In my country, Denmark, we are getting mandatory age verification next year, and it looks like it's going to be offered only as an app. These apps are simply not available for non-AOSP Linux phones, and there is little hope that they'll ever be.

Owning a smartphone is becoming less of a choice, and it's becoming harder to own one that respects my freedom. I don't think it is entitlement to demand freedom in an ecosystem that I feel I am forced into.

notepad0x90 · 11 hours ago

I say let's fight against smartphone usage being required everywhere. I don't care if the phone is FOSS or not, we still should be allowed to not have a personal tracking device. I am also all for supporting a fork of AOSP. The EU talks big on not depending on US tech companies, it even funds lots of FOSS projects, this should be on top of their list.

The fact that your country is getting age verification, given how democratic and free Denmark is should tell you the prevailing view of the public on the subject matter. Why not focus on what everyone will support - which is being free from tech companies and closed code systems. The 99% of people that do pay for phones, don't think about technology much, they don't even know what sideloading is let along care about it. You/HN is an extreme minority in that aspect, as are android devs. and there are definitely more people being adversely impacted by sideloaded malware. Freedom that is not practical is just wishful thinking. Freedom that ignores the harm caused on others is tyranny by any other name.

notepad0x90 commented on AI adoption linked to 13% decline in jobs for young U.S. workers: study cnbc.com/2025/08/28/gener... · Posted by u/pseudolus

mc32 · 11 hours ago

Wait; what would you look for a gov policy to do here? Stunt growth? Prevent efficiency or something else like what?

notepad0x90 · 11 hours ago

Tax incentives , labor laws,etc..

Yes, stunt growth if that growth is immediately harmful to the public. Provide adverse incentives that increase the cost of replacing humans. Less or no government subsidies, incentives or tax breaks if you replace humans with LLMs. Even without replacing humans, tax LLM usage like cigarettes.

In the short term that is. over time, wind down these artificial costs, so that humans transition to roles that can't be automated by LLMs. Go to school, get training,etc.. in other fields. Instead of having millions of unemployed restless people collapsing your society.

But everyone is on the take, they want their short term lobbying money and stock tips so they can take what's theirs and run before the ship sinks. (if I can be a bit over dramatic :) )

notepad0x90 commented on Stop Using Vulnerability Counts to Measure Software Security cacm.acm.org/opinion/stop... · Posted by u/zdw

notepad0x90 · 11 hours ago

Totally agree with this take. That said, you must account for the size of the codebase and associated attack surfaces and compare that with frequency of a particular bug class consistently popping up on every CVE.

In other words, you shouldn't use vulnerability counts, but you can discern patterns of vulnerability to intuit something about the nature of the codebase.

For example, RCE vulnerabilities on Chrome, especially under V8 while not very common they happen commonly enough to suspect that maybe there is some code quality issue. However, if you look at the sheer size of V8, and how much scrutiny and research it undergoes, it is surprising there aren't even more critical vulns being found all the time. JIT is inherently a risky endeavor.

notepad0x90 commented on AI adoption linked to 13% decline in jobs for young U.S. workers: study cnbc.com/2025/08/28/gener... · Posted by u/pseudolus

notepad0x90 · 12 hours ago

I think this is to be expected, all tech has societal impact like this. This is just happening over a span of few years instead of decades and centuries. Failure in government policy making at it's peak.

notepad0x90 commented on Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use? · Posted by u/rickybule

notepad0x90 · 13 hours ago

I've heard of shadowsocks being advertised for such use cases.

https://shadowsocks.org/

notepad0x90 commented on Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and FOSS apps · Posted by u/nativeforks

scheeseman486 · a day ago

It's less about saving the concept of anonymous development, more about the tightening grip that the big three companies, Apple, Google and Microsoft (they're making their own moves in the same direction) have on home and personal computing. We would be giving up a lot; this would effectively kill any open source computing products from ever becoming viable. Platforms become fiefdoms, they become shit to use because there's no other choice and can never be. Any app that runs counter to the desires of the parent of the platform can be killed and it becomes impossible to build a competitive ecosystem because the chicken & egg software problem, something which open ecosystems can solve through compatibility laters, but that becomes unviable thanks to DRM and hardware integrity lockouts.

It's a nightmare scenario, our lives locked in to total corporate control. What do we get in return for that? Scammers won't be stopped by this, the key to grifting isn't technology but people. What you're suggesting is trading open platforms and open source and fortifying current marketplace monopolies for a marginal decrease in scams. For a while. Maybe. I suggest that is unbelievably stupid.

notepad0x90 · 13 hours ago

Maybe the EU and other parties should fund an open source fork of Android? People who don't want these big companies to control their devices can use that instead.

notepad0x90 commented on Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and FOSS apps · Posted by u/nativeforks

ulrikrasmussen · 20 hours ago

Even if I'm in the minority it still doesn't justify it. I'm sorry, it sucks, but I don't hold this position because I lack knowledge, I hold it because I think giving up freedom to control our own devices is too much, even if it means people will get hurt. I also perfectly understand how cameras in every home will prevent so much domestic abuse and crime, but I am still against it. Not because I don't understand how many people are victim to these things, but because I think the intrusion on ME is too much.

notepad0x90 · 13 hours ago

But we're not talking about your devices, so long as you have alternatives. and Apple has this policy already. But unlike apple, you can use non-google-certified builds just fine and do whatever you want.

Also, how about not using android or iphones at all, support a FOSS phone with 100% control over it? This is a private business selling services to the public, taking measures to protect the public. You or anyone else has no entitlement or rights over how they provide that service. The right you have is to not spend your money on that business. Getting a phone that doesn't give you root on it to begin with is submitting to Google's (and vendor's) authority to arbitrarily decide what gets and doesn't get installed on your device.

notepad0x90 commented on Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and FOSS apps · Posted by u/nativeforks

drewbitt · 19 hours ago

I have a lot of third party apps and none of them are by 'anonymous' developers. Presenting the situation as if everyone is exposed to 'anonymous' apps and Google is here to save you is misleading and fear‑mongering.

notepad0x90 · 13 hours ago

Then what's the problem here? If they're not anonymous, what do they lose that's so valuable that it is worth endangering the unsuspecting public over?