TWeaK

Were they actually chilling together, or was this just written correspondence? Like letters from prison.

“This is the soooound, of science”

Yes if GOG is an option I go for that.

THANK YOU!! It’s a crime that this wasn’t in the original meme

It’s only a monopoly in that it’s so much more popular than everything else that’s come along, and the main reason for that is because it’s better than competitors. Most others are just publisher stores, and almost all have functionality that users disagree with.

In the OP article, the game distribution platform Rokky is also apparently a publisher store, having recently bought the rights to distribute Chinese games in the west.

Why no link to the actual article?

One of the big issues with 7-Zip is that it only really updates manually. There is literally no update functionality baked in, at least in the version I’ve been running.

Did CNN re-record it this time?

The article literally says this at the start of the 4th paragraph lmao did you read it?

The issue is that Google considers them getting your data as more important than allowing you to evade the data collection of third parties that pay them.

The issue is Google’s profiteering.

Yes absolutely. In fact, you’ve touched on the very issue that people don’t understand with Google - the likelihood of the risk.

Most people think that because the consequence of Google getting your data is low, it’s a lesser risk than a hacker getting into your device (very high consequence). But likelihood is just as important with risk. It’s very unlikely a competent hacker will attack your device (moreso with good practice on your part), so the risk is still low even though the severity is high. But it is an absolute certainty that Google will get your data - so even though the severity is low the risk is still significant, and arguably Google present a more significant risk than a hacker.

I’m not advocating using Google over F-Droid, or that Google’s change here is good, or even lawful. This is a textbook anti-trust type case that the EU prosecuted against in the past. However, unfortunately governments seem gung-ho for this to happen this time around.

All I’m saying is that if F-Droid want to tout the security of their service, they probably shouldn’t leave the door open for attackers to use their app as a vector for attacking devices. Their response to this wasn’t strong enough to justify their implied claim that they are at the forefront of security. They’re much better than Google, sure, but they should be trying harder if they want to lead.

Why do you think vulnerabilities and functionality are mutually exclusive??

Of course being able to connect to other repos is a useful function of F-Droid, I use it for several. However, functionality also opens up potential doors for attackers.

The most effective way to secure your device is to limit functionality. Then, it becomes a trade off between what functionality you want or can do without, and what potential risk you’re willing to accept.

It’s easy to ignore risk and enable all functionality, and sometimes that’s nice to do, but you’ve got to find a balance.

My point here is that F-Droid is arguing about their viability because of their security, while running a service that has a known vulnerability.

F-Droid is in a bit of a bad position to argue here, as it does have a genuine security vulnerability that many choose to avoid the service for. Basically, while they say “our store is safe and contains zero malware” this isn’t necessarily true of the 3rd party repositories you can subscribe to with their app. So, if an attacker compromises the F-Droid app on your device, they can subscribe to their own repository and load malicious apps onto your device through the F-Droid app.

Unfortunately this move by Google is a bit of a death knell anyway. I can’t see governments preventing Google from doing this, particularly not now they’ve established means of access (paying) for data Google holds, and especially since governments (eg UK) are now mandating you install government apps on your phone.

TL;DW?

Taking a page out of China’s book.

And Microsoft Activation Script will license it permanently.

Oh the irony of sitting back on Win 10 being what saves people from the issue.

Hopefully Russia won’t invade and prevent the lawsuit from happening, like with Ukraine and the civil trial against the owners of PrivatBank.

The app is just a map, the WiFi connection uses a standard SSID and login portal.

You’re right, I was just going on the post saying “With the WiFi4EU app, you can access…”, implying that you need the app to access it. But on their webpage it spells it out more clearly:

On connecting to the free Wi-Fi network for the first time, you will be redirected to a secure login page (a captive portal). You will be able to sign in with a simple click-to-connect functionality.