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VLC - App stores were a mistake
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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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Privacy
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You can use google's play app signing. It's not mandatory.
That is not better, it still means that the app is signed with a non private key, which goes against the very concept of the private/public key concept
Thats what they complain about. They can use it. They dont have to. Yes its bad but they mix up a lot in one post.
An unacceptable option is not an option. This is like saying somebody has access to multiple Internet providers when one ISP is so slow as to be nearly unusable, but it technically exists and you can technically pay for it. That’s not really what we mean by “choice.”
Your response is so typical and frustrating to be honest. It’s flippant nonsense where you know what we are talking about but you don’t want to agree so you hide behind lazy responses like the one you wrote.
Why do Google need the private key? I can only see it being used to modify apps without notice.
Iirc, they build the app and publish it for you. "For convenience and security"
Wow, that is terrible.
Yyes.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9842756?hl=en
Yes, but only because it's Google. Fdroid do exactly the same thing in their repo.
The idea behind it is sound, because otherwise you're putting all your trust in the app developer. By having the store do some basic checks and compile the app the idea is they can guarantee no third party/bad actor has inserted malicious code.
However, this being Google, they are the bad actor.
No, that is wrong, the app developer signs the app with their private key, sends it to Google, google scans ans verifies the app, and add their signature with their own private key.
The app can thus be verified to have been built by a specific developer and verified by Google before publishing, without breaking trust