Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move,” the developer said.
That sounds like just changing who is verifying the developer. Whether it’s the EFF (because they aren’t going to put their name and reputation at risk for unreviewed source code) or google, the issue is the same.
Someone has to be the middle man in deciding what is allowed to be installed.
No one said it would be shut down, the thing all these clickbait articles leave out of the headline is “as we know it”, which means it will change significantly.
F-Droid is a staple of the FOSS community and it will effectively be shut down due to these changes.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/f-droid-project-threatened-by-googles-new-dev-registration-rules/
Could the EFF or individuals sponsor apps from devs who refuse to identify to Big Goog?
Dev sends EFF the source code,
EFF registers with Google,
EFF submits the app,
Everybody’s happy except a number of people for obvious reasons but at least the app’s verified
That sounds like just changing who is verifying the developer. Whether it’s the EFF (because they aren’t going to put their name and reputation at risk for unreviewed source code) or google, the issue is the same.
Someone has to be the middle man in deciding what is allowed to be installed.
No one said it would be shut down, the thing all these clickbait articles leave out of the headline is “as we know it”, which means it will change significantly.