Google's plan to require developer verification for direct installation of Android apps would give Google and governments the ability to ban any app, and removes a key distinction between Android and iOS.

This is the official feedback form linked from https://developer.android.com/developer-verification

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45017028

Help fill out the form and tell Google and the government what will happen if this is allowed.

Here's my diplomatic submission (bad english, but I post here because ultimately I'd want it to be read by someone and that form seems to be a black hole..):

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Let me start by saying that I don't even fully know in WHICH cases those requirements would apply.. would it only apply when "Play Protect" is on [understandable]? Would "adb install" be affected too [completely crazy]? How would that handle personal apps that are not distributed? Further, how would it even handle Android Studio, would we need to show a government ID to run the "hello world" app made in Android Studio, is that what you want Android to be?

Second, it's not fully clear WHAT those requirements are. How come you can cite security concerns yet claim that the contents of the APK are not verified.. then what if I create malware? It makes no sense.

As a "technical" person and a security researcher, I feel disproportionately affected. Not just by these requirements, because like I said above, I don't actually distribute any apps for others to use, I might just share the source code but that's it.

What worries me is that not only does Google not offer any usable system for developers/researchers directly (there are no official "userdebug" builds that we could use as a "daily driver"), but it seems Google is actually making it increasingly harder for others to make such systems..

As others have pointed out, AOSP seems to be getting killed piece-by-piece, more and more vendors are disabling the option to unlock the bootloader.. yet I NEED a version of Android that doesn't impose restrictions on me, I assumed the core feature of Android was that it was open and therefore suitable for technical people like me..

If Android becomes closed - even for expert users and developers - there will be no point in staying on Android, I might as well try iOS, because why would I choose a copycat when I could choose the original?

Sincerely, zb3

I know this feels useless, but if there is any hope engineers within Google will see this, please make an attempt, and try to appeal to those who give a damn about free and open computing. This move is going to continue the shift towards closed and centralized computing until everything is DRMed, from the bootloader all the way up.