3 ms·

The app stores are run by companies with a presence in the EU.

walrus01 2y ago
What's funny is that it's other EU laws from totally different parts of government which are, at the same time, pushing to allow for side loading of apps and alternate app stores on iOS and Android. https://www.google.com/search?q=apple%20eu%20alternative%20app%20store&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-m https://www.google.com/search?q=apple%20eu%20alternative%20a... The end result of which, if done at large scale, means that an EU government couldn't ban signal, short of forcing all its domestic ISPs to be downstream of a China type great firewall, or simply null route all the IP space where signal's servers are located.
- ben_w 2y ago
  All the alternative app stores can easily be subject to the same legal requirements as Apple. Side-loading is harder to enforce any rules over, of course. Blocking domains is well-established at this point, thanks to the copyright industry doing a 21.5-year whack-a-mole-waltz with The Pirate Bay. Of course, this also demonstrates the limited effectiveness of domain blocking.
  - walrus01 2y ago
    > Of course, this also demonstrates the limited effectiveness of domain blocking. Extremely limited effectiveness, when VPN operators like Mullvad are corporations based in Sweden and offer 5 euro a month service to bypass whatever local "mess with internet traffic" activity, whether government-caused or not, that someone's last mile ISP is up to... There's also the game of whack a mole with taking ownership of domains at the registrar/ICANN level through court orders, such as with the various .com or similar things that get jacked and plastered with a "DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED" notice by the US feds.
fulafel 2y ago
You don't need to get Signal from an app store (unless you're on iOS I guess)
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  Even then the webapp should work
  - guerrilla 2y ago
    Since when is there a Signal web app? I don't think there is, but even if there were then presumably it'd work the same as the desktop app: "To use the Signal desktop app, Signal must first be installed on your phone."
- miohtama 2y ago
  In the EU, Apple must support side loading and other app stores.
  - fulafel 2y ago
    But those are also vulnerable to these laws, no? App sideloading seems the only escape.
- itishappy 2y ago
  For 99% of people the effect is the same as blocking the app.
  - fulafel 2y ago
    You mean because users don't know how to sideload? Maybe so far, as there's been no need. On Android it's just one pref and then you download the APK in the browser.
    - itishappy 2y ago
      Yeah, most people don't leave the easy path. Most people don't use Signal. Adding more friction won't improve that.

What's funny is that it's other EU laws from totally different parts of government which are, at the same time, pushing to allow for side loading of apps and alternate app stores on iOS and Android. https://www.google.com/search?q=apple%20eu%20alternative%20app%20store&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-m https://www.google.com/search?q=apple%20eu%20alternative%20a... The end result of which, if done at large scale, means that an EU government couldn't ban signal, short of forcing all its domestic ISPs to be downstream of a China type great firewall, or simply null route all the IP space where signal's servers are located.

ben_w 2y ago
All the alternative app stores can easily be subject to the same legal requirements as Apple. Side-loading is harder to enforce any rules over, of course. Blocking domains is well-established at this point, thanks to the copyright industry doing a 21.5-year whack-a-mole-waltz with The Pirate Bay. Of course, this also demonstrates the limited effectiveness of domain blocking.
- walrus01 2y ago
  > Of course, this also demonstrates the limited effectiveness of domain blocking. Extremely limited effectiveness, when VPN operators like Mullvad are corporations based in Sweden and offer 5 euro a month service to bypass whatever local "mess with internet traffic" activity, whether government-caused or not, that someone's last mile ISP is up to... There's also the game of whack a mole with taking ownership of domains at the registrar/ICANN level through court orders, such as with the various .com or similar things that get jacked and plastered with a "DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED" notice by the US feds.

fulafel 2y ago

You don't need to get Signal from an app store (unless you're on iOS I guess)

kjkjadksj 2y ago
Even then the webapp should work
- guerrilla 2y ago
  Since when is there a Signal web app? I don't think there is, but even if there were then presumably it'd work the same as the desktop app: "To use the Signal desktop app, Signal must first be installed on your phone."
miohtama 2y ago
In the EU, Apple must support side loading and other app stores.
- fulafel 2y ago
  But those are also vulnerable to these laws, no? App sideloading seems the only escape.
itishappy 2y ago
For 99% of people the effect is the same as blocking the app.
- fulafel 2y ago
  You mean because users don't know how to sideload? Maybe so far, as there's been no need. On Android it's just one pref and then you download the APK in the browser.
  - itishappy 2y ago
    Yeah, most people don't leave the easy path. Most people don't use Signal. Adding more friction won't improve that.