#Android is dying.

We all know that #Google wants to kill the “unverified/sideloaded” apps (names carefully selected by Google’s professional gaslighters to give a negative connotation to “apps that are not distributed by Google’s own store”).

We all know that the new “verification process” amounts basically to a ransom where you need to give Google your keys and your money if you want to build apps for Android.

It involves developers handing their signing keys to a user-hostile American company (so they will sign your package for you and will also able to decrypt your secrets) and paying them a $25 fee for each app.

Even if you don’t even use the Play Store to distribute your apps.

This is not a price to pay to get the app distributed through them, nor for using any of their services. It’s a price to pay just because they want to control the whole ecosystem end-to-end, and they know that they can get away with that because you’ll keep using their shitty OS even if you’re outraged at them.

We all know that they got a lot of backlash. And after the backlash they reiterated that they “listened to the community” and would have made a process to still allow people to “sideload apps”.

Well, today that process has been finally unveiled. And it sounds even shittier than I thought.

That’s because Google is currently filled with the best professional enshittificators in the world: the job role of these people is not to build new things, nor to listen to customers and build what they want. No, their job is specifically to find the sweet spot where they can make things as shitty as possible, add as much friction and user frustration as possible to prevent them from doing a certain thing, while still being able to tell regulators “well, it’s not that shitty, you see? We still give users an option - buried under 10 layers of dark patterns”.

In order to install apps external to the Play Store you will have to:

• Activate the developer settings (the usual “tap the build number 7 times to show the hidden menu” thing)

• In the developer settings, enable “Allow Unverified Padckages”

• Confirm that you are not being coerced (seriously, how much malware did they actually see installed by people being coerced or tricked to download and install random APK files?)

• Restart your device

• Wait 24 hours

• Return to the unverified packages settings

• Scroll past 3-4 additional warnings whose sole purpose is to scare you off

• Select either “Allow temporarily“ (7 days) or “Allow indefinitely“ (and I’ve got a hunch that the Allow indefinitely option will probably be gradually phased out)

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/google-details-new-24-hour-process-to-sideload-unverified-android-apps/

European Parliament votes on extending the derogation of ChatControl 2.0

https://libretechni.ca/post/1034285

#AI can link different online aliases with a 67 to 90% success rate, making online #privacy more difficult.

https://itsfoss.com/news/ai-online-deanonymization/

#artificialintelligence #web

Proton is generally regarded as a secure email service and this might be true regarding encryption and data storage. But now Proton has collaborated with the FBI and handed over payment data to identify the owner of an email account.

And guess what … The owner of the account was not a paedophile or a terrorist, it was an activists connected to the protest movement „Stop Cop City“

Of course, Proton acted accordingly to Swiss law but considering that this not a single case and Proton is always promoting their location in Switzerland as trustworthy, I would recommend to use something else, probably not even email.

But if you’re using it, follow some basic rules:

1. No recovery data like email or phone numbers.

2. Use a VPN (keep in mind that the VPN provider knows who you are and that a VPN might not be as secure as you think)

3. Don’t use banking accounts for payment. If possible, use Monero or Cash.

4. Don’t use your secret email for anything else. The more often you use it, the more traces you leave.

5. Consider using a messenger for sensitive communication. My personal recommendation is Molly.

@Tutanota How often per year do you get these requests from authorities and how often do you follow them?

#protonmail #stopcopcity #privacy #surveillancestate #digitalrights #activism

https://www.heise.de/en/news/Proton-FBI-user-identification-shakes-Swiss-data-protection-11203086.html