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This is exactly why the EU's Digital Markets Act exists. And why it needs teeth. Google disabling Nextcloud's all-files access on Android, while quietly letting
by inigoalonso 1y ago
This is exactly why the EU's Digital Markets Act exists. And why it needs teeth. Google disabling Nextcloud's all-files access on Android, while quietly letting its own apps and big corporate players keep it, isn't about "security". It's about control. Nextcloud is a European, privacy-first alternative built on open standards and that can be fully aligned with GDPR requirements. Blocking its core functionality while favouring your own services is a textbook abuse of platform power. Android was supposed to be open, but moves like this show it (at least the Play Services verison) is just another walled garden. If the EU is serious about digital sovereignty and fair competition, this is the kind of behaviour that must be stopped. Otherwise, no European tech, no matter how compliant, open, or user-friendly, stands a chance.
- darkwater 1y agoWaiting for the nitpicker crowd "you can install AOSP and/or sideload APKs easily, so there is no incumbent abuse here!", just like we had them for IE (you can install another browser) and iPhone (you can buy another brand). Edit: oh we already have them in the other submission
- raverbashing 1y agoYeah it's the "less space than a Nomad" people I know, I used to be one of those
- geff82 1y agoJust use e/os ! ;)
- subscribed 1y agoMaybe something else instead. e/os famously leaves the bootloader gaping open after the installation (looks like relocking is only supported on Fairphones), is very late to release anything (their most recent ROM is still based on AOSP 14!), inc.securty updates. Doesn't sound like a serious project.
- em-bee 1y agowhat else? i'd rather have secure, stable and slow. i don't know about locking the bootloader (do you have a reference to that? i'd like to read up on it). but i don't care that their rom is always the most recent one. what matters is that e/OS is the only rom i am aware of that combines usability with security. graphene OS doesn't count because it is only available on pixel phones and therefore very limited in applicability. others i don't know.
- throw347897823 1y ago[flagged]
- Hilift 1y agoMobile is a second class operating system platform. A browser or OS you use on a desktop can easily be configured to block/filter things. Mobile users are exposed to popups/malware/DNS hijacking daily. If they didn't, mobile would not be the gravy train of clicks for advertisers.
- jeroenhd 1y agoWhat apps in Google's ecosystem have the "all files" permission? Google Drive certainly doesn't. The "upload" button on GDrive prompts you to select a file just like NextCloud does. The "sync just one folder" functionality exists in SAF without any high-risk permissions. Migration of existing profiles may be a pain (as the user would need to grant permission on the folder when switching to the new API). Synchronisation of the entire virtual storage, the download folder, or any extra folders vendors like Samsung might've added to the blacklist, isn't possible with the new API, but it's also not possible with Google's own services. The DMA only requires Google not to be put in a special position; as long as they don't offer such a feature, they don't need to offer it to NextCloud.
- apitman 1y ago> What apps in Google's ecosystem have the "all files" permission? The system itself[0] has capabililities that aren't provided to app developers. iOS is similar. Contrast this with Windows and GNU/Linux where AFAIK you can do pretty much everything the OS can given the proper permissions. Not sure about macOS. [0]: https://support.google.com/googleone/answer/9149304?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid https://support.google.com/googleone/answer/9149304?hl=en&co...
- izacus 1y agoPunishing Google for preventing apps from reading all your private data at a whim is quite a take to involve EU for. Without this enforcement, malware games and apps like Facebook were just uploading your photos and scanning their EXIF locations under the guise of "needing all access". And as we found out in existing topic, the better privacy preserving APIs exist, Nextcloud just doesn't want to use them.
- DrillShopper 1y agoMaybe there's a middle ground between "apps can't do this" and "uploading all your data to the developers without a permissions dialog or a popup"? Could we maybe design a system where this permission requires opt in consent like every other feature on Android? Third party apps access to the feature is the issue here.
- nolist_policy 1y agoThe old API works this way. Random games requested the "access all files" permission. This was bad and the rest is history. The better middle ground is the new (9 years old) SAF API. The SAF API simply presents a directory picker to the user. The user can give the app access to any directories he likes.
- 1y ago