It seems to me this is a blocker to use if google can restrict sideloading like this. Its not going to end with just get people requiring to register their app with an identity. Wont they be able to put presser on f-droid devs to lock out software they consider a threat to some business model?

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McDyver 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> sideloading

That newspeak term should just disappeared. It only contributes to the image that downloading and installing an app is something that is outside the "happy path". Installing software of your choice on a device you own shouldn't be demonised

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folkrav 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Fully agree. Installing software is installing software, signed or unsigned, app store or not.

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ragequittah 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Surely you see how installing unvetted software on a device that holds your entire life, bank info, photos, etc. probably shouldn't be part of the "happy path" for most people. You shouldn't even install software you haven't fully vetted from the google play store. This should be drilled into non-technical people.

Those of us who want to can easily bypass it. My mom who doesn't know what she's doing and gets a phishing email with a fancy apk attached should probably have a hard time using it.

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OroPla 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> a device that holds your entire life, bank info, photos, etc.

I'd see it the other way around and say that a device running an operating system controlled by some company shouldn't hold your entire life, bank info, photos, etc.

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krzyk 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That means education for people: don't perform actions that are in emails.

Blocking apps is like blocking buying of knifes because one can hurt themselves.

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halostatue 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Because education has worked so well on Windows.

There's not an easy answer, but the non-answer of "people just need to be educated" is trivially dismissed.

	▲	Aachen 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm not sure the situations are comparable when Windows doesn't have this permission system where the apps are still very limited in what they can access unless you grant specific directory access or access to the contact list or such

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g-b-r 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> a device that holds your entire life, bank info, photos, etc

That device was called personal computer for decades, and the world didn't end for the simplicity of installing software on it.

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JumpCrisscross an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> That device was called personal computer

To be fair, mobile phones being locked down probably contributed to the mass adoption of e.g. mobile payments and banking.

	▲	g-b-r 38 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Web banking was offered by all banks long before banking apps, and you could of course access it from smartphones The move to apps made things more difficult, if anything

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charcircuit 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The world may not of ended but to of people have been hurt by malware ruining their computer, cryptolocking all of their company's files for ransom, stealing all of your login credentials, stealing cryptocurrency, taking secret photos with your webcam, screen recording what you are doing on your computer, etc.

The "personal computer" has a terrible track record.

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krzyk 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Just like people get robbed, it is as common as that.

It doesn't mean one can't buy nice things because one is afraid of being robbed.

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charcircuit 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Except a sane society puts rules in place against robbers and then bans such people from society.

	▲	Vrondi an hour ago \| parent [-]
		There have already been laws against scammers and hackers for a long time.

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Vrondi an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For many decades, people have been mistakenly putting diesel fuel into their gasoline cars, yet we never outlawed diesel vehicles. You can only do so much to protect people without destroying their rights to their property.

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g-b-r 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That seems to happen on phones too

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charcircuit 2 hours ago | parent [-]

It is much rarer since it needs 0 day to do these at the same level as possible on a pc. The play store scanning apps for malware is an important safety mechanism against this. Further more imposter apps like YouTube but with no ads that are Trojans that steal people's accounts.

	▲	g-b-r 25 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Or the accessibility permission, or to some degree the access all files ones; but it's also enough for the app to pilfer the data you trust it with. The Play Store's scanning is very far from perfect, and the amount of crap that's on it, combined with the trust that people have towards it, and apps' unfettered access to internet, makes malicious software easily more common than on PCs. Even without considering as malicious the enormous data collection that almost everything on the Play Store does, encouraged by Google

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catlikesshrimp 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Block installs outside of playstore ON/OFF (ON by default) isn't any less secure. "Sideloading" is scaremongering.

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wongarsu 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If the issue Google has with sideloading is really just the rampant app piracy (and the malware that comes with cracked apps) that might be something F-Droid can accomodate.

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OroPla 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don't think malware is the problem, as most malware comes directly via Google's ecosystem carried by ads. Just recently I had to uninstall some app from the play store since it tried to distribute malware through scary pop-ups and had it replaced with something from f-droid for someone I know.

	▲	autoexec 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> most malware comes directly via Google's ecosystem carried by ads. Google's own Play Store is filled with outright malware too, no ads needed. The idea that Google has to control what people are allowed to install on their phones isn't really for the protection of anyone except Google.

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inquirerGeneral 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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