Big Tech is at it again.

Some of you might have seen this already. Google has announced a new policy for Android app developers, which would require them to seek Google’s permission if they want to distribute their apps outside of the Google Play Store (on their own website or on alternative app stores). This would entail:

1) agreeing to their terms and conditions
2) paying a fee
3) uploading a government ID

Which is wrong on so many levels. Nobody should be forced to register with Google if they don’t want to use their services.

In doing so they would be extending their gatekeeping (tentacles) into distribution channels where they’re just not a legitimate authority.

At Vivaldi, we believe you have the right to run whatever software you want on a device you own. That’s why we’ve co-signed this open letter, together with other 53 organisations, requesting Google to back off on the proposed policy before it enters into force.

(Plus, they have have a pretty cool logo 😄)

https://keepandroidopen.org/open-letter/

We now have two t-shirt designs on our merch shop! Both are unisex, high quality 100% organic cotton, with screen prints of @dopatwo's awesome illustrations. You voted for these slogans! "I write alt text" and "My friends are not for sale". We offer free shipping over a certain threshold, shipping from Germany.

https://shop.joinmastodon.org/products/mastodon-i-write-alt-text-unisex-t-shirt-copy

#Merchtodon #Mastodon

Edit: The author, Carlos Latuff, face allegations of antisemitism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Latuff#Allegations_of_antisemitism

#ice #IDF #Gaza #uspol #USA #Palestine #fascism

"The toolbox isn’t particularly varied. President Trump is using all the instruments: the reported quotas for ICE arrests; the paramilitary force made up of thugs drunk on their own brutality; the spectacle of random violence, particularly in city streets; the postmortem vilification of the victims. It’s only natural that our brains struggle to find logic in what we are seeing. There is a logic, and this logic has a name. It’s called state terror."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/opinion/state-terror-has-arrived.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HFA.soDc.3KXo-wEIcKA9&smid=nytcore-android-share&fbclid=IwdGRleAPipf9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEem1-Tc9exK--Za22Ov6GezxZa5Bm-uOAi-PtokprtGMdBg3bUKMohxl-_RzY_aem_uEIPXAKLVEP3s33MbtNhyw