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Google keeps seeming like an advanced persistent threat to an understandable world. More and more effort keeps getting poured into insuring software takes prece

Google keeps seeming like an advanced persistent threat to an understandable world. More and more effort keeps getting poured into insuring software takes precedence over humanity, that we get no say. The recent banning of sideloaded accessibility apps is another blood curddling cry against agency, another slamming shut of the door. This totalization of security concerns is such a horrifying behavior to have emerged in the past half decade, especially from a company so strongly linked to the web and which used to have such clear positive values.

hypertele-Xii 5y ago
On the other hand, if Google vanished today, the only effect it'd have on my life is that I'd watch something other than YouTube.
- vmception 5y ago
  Lucky you So no email you have from an employer, school, sideproject, personal is gmail based? No shared document you are storing or access is google docs based? At least everyone making calendar invites will quickly move to something else I’m just really surprised you’ve managed to do this and are content
  - sieabahlpark 5y ago
    Well it'd be gone anyway, I'd just use one of my other emails.
  - unethical_ban 5y ago
    In my personal life, YouTube is the only thing that seems irreplaceable. My contacts are in Google as well, but i have non Google for all backups and email and search. In fact, I'm considering a switch to Apple just to try out a completely deGoogled routine (barring work email).
  - hypertele-Xii 5y ago
    I actually de-Googled myself very recently. Got my own domain, own email, and use SyncThing between devices.
    - Melatonic 5y ago
      The only effect it would have is that tons and tons of people would suddenly be asking you for help on how to live without their Google handholding overlords :-D
jeroenhd 5y ago
The "ban" on externally installed accessibility apps is nothing more than two extra button presses to enable APIs that are used by real-world malware to steal money. Alternative app stores like F-Droid are exempt from the change, assuming they use the correct API, and apps you manually installed can still be given the necessary permissions. It's just harder to do when you don't know what you're doing, which is a good thing in my opinion.
- josephcsible 5y ago
  If it were just two extra button presses then it would be fine. The problem is that if you try to use a sideloaded accessibility app without pressing them, the error Google gives you tells you that it's completely impossible, and doesn't mention the button presses.
- rektide 5y ago
  That is less bad than I thought. Manifest v3 & it's forbidding of dynamic code is another major treason, in my view, an uncompromising & cruel stance to force upon the web. I'm less knowledgable here, but I also feel like there's a bit of a hostile relationship with works like Magisk on Android, which have long had an uneasy relationship, albeit the recent v24 & it's new Zygisk zygote injection shows a lot of health & excitement right now. The ever encroaching desire to drive top-down control is highly visible in SafetyNet, which make it clear the device in your hand serves corporations, not you.
  - SquareWheel 5y ago
    If by Manifest v3 you're referring to declarativeNetRequest, then that's supported dynamic rules since 2019[1][2]. If you mean disallowing importing remote code, that's to prevent malware from hiding in Chrome extensions until after being published. [1] https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/declarativeNetRequest/#dynamic-and-session-scoped-rules https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/decla... [2] https://blog.chromium.org/2019/06/web-request-and-declarative-net-request.html https://blog.chromium.org/2019/06/web-request-and-declarativ...
no_time 5y ago
>Google keeps seeming like an advanced persistent threat to an understandable world. More and more effort keeps getting poured into insuring software takes precedence over humanity, that we get no say. Truth. However this is a blip on the radar compared to the treacherous monstrosity that is the play integrity api https://developer.android.com/google/play/integrity https://developer.android.com/google/play/integrity

hypertele-Xii 5y ago

On the other hand, if Google vanished today, the only effect it'd have on my life is that I'd watch something other than YouTube.

vmception 5y ago
Lucky you So no email you have from an employer, school, sideproject, personal is gmail based? No shared document you are storing or access is google docs based? At least everyone making calendar invites will quickly move to something else I’m just really surprised you’ve managed to do this and are content
- sieabahlpark 5y ago
  Well it'd be gone anyway, I'd just use one of my other emails.
- unethical_ban 5y ago
  In my personal life, YouTube is the only thing that seems irreplaceable. My contacts are in Google as well, but i have non Google for all backups and email and search. In fact, I'm considering a switch to Apple just to try out a completely deGoogled routine (barring work email).
- hypertele-Xii 5y ago
  I actually de-Googled myself very recently. Got my own domain, own email, and use SyncThing between devices.
  - Melatonic 5y ago
    The only effect it would have is that tons and tons of people would suddenly be asking you for help on how to live without their Google handholding overlords :-D

jeroenhd 5y ago

The "ban" on externally installed accessibility apps is nothing more than two extra button presses to enable APIs that are used by real-world malware to steal money. Alternative app stores like F-Droid are exempt from the change, assuming they use the correct API, and apps you manually installed can still be given the necessary permissions. It's just harder to do when you don't know what you're doing, which is a good thing in my opinion.

josephcsible 5y ago
If it were just two extra button presses then it would be fine. The problem is that if you try to use a sideloaded accessibility app without pressing them, the error Google gives you tells you that it's completely impossible, and doesn't mention the button presses.
rektide 5y ago
That is less bad than I thought. Manifest v3 & it's forbidding of dynamic code is another major treason, in my view, an uncompromising & cruel stance to force upon the web. I'm less knowledgable here, but I also feel like there's a bit of a hostile relationship with works like Magisk on Android, which have long had an uneasy relationship, albeit the recent v24 & it's new Zygisk zygote injection shows a lot of health & excitement right now. The ever encroaching desire to drive top-down control is highly visible in SafetyNet, which make it clear the device in your hand serves corporations, not you.
- SquareWheel 5y ago
  If by Manifest v3 you're referring to declarativeNetRequest, then that's supported dynamic rules since 2019[1][2]. If you mean disallowing importing remote code, that's to prevent malware from hiding in Chrome extensions until after being published. [1] https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/declarativeNetRequest/#dynamic-and-session-scoped-rules https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/decla... [2] https://blog.chromium.org/2019/06/web-request-and-declarative-net-request.html https://blog.chromium.org/2019/06/web-request-and-declarativ...

no_time 5y ago

>Google keeps seeming like an advanced persistent threat to an understandable world. More and more effort keeps getting poured into insuring software takes precedence over humanity, that we get no say. Truth. However this is a blip on the radar compared to the treacherous monstrosity that is the play integrity api https://developer.android.com/google/play/integrity https://developer.android.com/google/play/integrity