Preventing this at the app store level is hard [LWN.net]

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 12, 2026 10:29 UTC (Sun) by tux3 (subscriber, #101245)
In reply to: Preventing this at the app store level is hard by roc
Parent article: An update on the scraper situation

I'm one of those people, but in the sense of supporting third-party package managers (à la F-Droid).

But then people will also "consent" to being scammed over the phone, because we often don't really understand what we're consenting to when the person asking for consent is also the attacker.
There's a parallel with Public Health as a medical field. If you allow that the general public of non-experts sometimes make bad choices for themselves and others, there's a balance in intervening without creating a system where people are stripped of all autonomy.
Sham doctors can't officially practice medicine or advertise snake-oil as a panacea. I'm sure you can still find them if you really look, they just can't be near anything official that could trick the average person into "consenting" with a scam.

So I'd let people install arbitrary things if they really go look for them, but I wouldn't let botnets advertise on the official app store.

to post comments

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 12, 2026 11:45 UTC (Sun) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link] (5 responses)

> there's a balance in intervening without creating a system where people are stripped of all autonomy.

Absolutely not.

Google has *no* business "intervening" with my actions whatsoever.
I am an adult and I can do decisions on my own.
I do not need Google to "take care of me" and install a 24 hour barrier so that I "won't hurt myself".

If I fall for a scam, then it is my own fault. I am an adult. I don't need mommy Google to take care of that.

This is obviously not about user's security.
Google has obviously been locking down their platform, step by step, over the last couple of years.
And they won't stop here.

Give me *one* button to opt out of this nonsense.
No nagging, no scare questions, no 24h delays, no nothing. Just a button "I'm grown up already, no need for mommy Google to protect me".

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 12, 2026 12:06 UTC (Sun) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link] (4 responses)

> Google has *no* business "intervening" with my actions whatsoever.

You get to say that only *after* you've built (and maintain) your own smartphone platform from does not rely on any ongoing Google services or resources.

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 12, 2026 12:21 UTC (Sun) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link] (3 responses)

>You get to say that only *after* ...

Obvious nonsense. Here's what gives me the right to do that at any time: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_5.html

Android is not a free market product that I can choose to use or not to use.
Android (or iOS) use is mandatory for an increasing amount of daily tasks.

I *wish* I *could* drop Android and use something I built on my own or any other alternative product of my choice.
This is not possible in the real world we live in, though.
And that is why regulatory actions against Google are necessary to keep user's freedoms.

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 12, 2026 13:26 UTC (Sun) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link] (2 responses)

> Obvious nonsense. Here's what gives me the right to do that at any time: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_5.html

Uh, that appears to be solely about freedom of expression and learning [1]; which as far as I can tell you're fully exercising?

It says nothing about third parties being obligated to enable you to express yourself, much less require said third parties to build, maintain, and support systems that do what *you* want. Nor does it appear to have any bearing on markets or commerce in general.

Meanwhile, Google's device-restricting actions are backstopped by EU laws that make it expressly illegal to break DRM. Repealing that would achieve far more freedom (to both individuals and markets) than piling volumes of status-quo-entrenching regulations on top.

[1] while also making it clear that said freedoms are not absolute ("The freedom of doctrine does not absolve off from fidelity to the Constitution" according to Firefox's translation)

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 12, 2026 13:43 UTC (Sun) by mb (subscriber, #50428) [Link] (1 responses)

>much less require said third parties to

Google is not a random third party in the market anymore.
Google is infrastructure at this point.

And as such Google must be criticized for their actions and regulated if they exploit their market position.

And yes, I can say this and you can do nothing about it. "You get to say that only *after*..." is completely false.
If you say that I can't criticize Google for their actions unless I build a system on my own you are completely wrong.
You are trying to move the goal posts.

>EU laws

Yes, there are many more things to criticize, beyond Google.

>Repealing that would achieve far more freedom

You know, I can be against multiple things at the same time.
There is no need to select and prioritize.

Preventing this at the app store level is hard

Posted Jul 13, 2026 11:29 UTC (Mon) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link]

> Google is infrastructure at this point.

....Then Google should be able to collect taxes to pay for said infrastructure.

You don't get to have it both ways.

> If you say that I can't criticize Google for their actions unless I build a system on my own you are completely wrong.

No, I'm saying that it is highly naive to expect Google to cater to *your* wants (not even "needs") while you freeload off of their services and rely on what their enormous engineering staff produces.

> There is no need to select and prioritize.

When you have (very) limited resources at your disposal, most folks want to put those to where they will be the most effective. But hey, you do you.