> Disguising itself as the innocuously-titled “Android Developer Verifier” (ADV) process, this trojan horse runs surreptitiously in the background as a system service with full root privileges, quietly awaiting an activation signal. The service cannot be blocked, disabled, or removed. Unlike a commonplace bit of malware, this extraordinary strain won’t be detected and neutralized by Play Protect (the malware scanning and remediation service that is installed on all Android Certified devices). In fact, Play Protect is itself the vector through which this virus is transmitted and installed.

> That is because it is Google themselves who is propagating ADV. And once activated, this malevolent process has exactly one goal: to block you from running software by developers who haven’t been approved centrally by Google.

The rest of the article is a claim that Google's new terms of service amount to "malware is any software we [Google] don't like."

It seems like Google is aiming for its own walled garden.

> How long before they designate all ad-blocking software as malware, block installation on all Android certified devices worldwide, and permanently designate all developers of this class of software as malware creators?

Classic slippery slope fallacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

History shows that when a "slope" appears... regulation steps in, technology evolves to solve the problem, or the culture shifts to reinterpret the thing.

In almost every case, the feared "bottom" of the slope was never reached because humans constantly built ramps or bridges along the way.

related: https://keepandroidopen.org/ previously on hn

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47935853 (2 months ago, 889 comments)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47139765 (4 months ago, 378 comments)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47778274 (3 months ago, 68 comments)

My Android 15 handset doesn't have com.google.android.verifier process. It could be a Ulefone thing. They're especially pro-user (ex:root friendly).

I understand the frustration (I'm an avid fdroid user across many many devices). But this article comes off as childish with the virus/trojan/"malware vendor".

With such an article, many (including perhaps google) get the ammo to disregard what fdroid says, by branding them as childish/not to be taken seriously. for eg: no reputable news org is going to post this.

PS: https://keepandroidopen.org/ is better done.