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Is Google going to make Android a nightmare? (arachnoid.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The discussion I stumbled upon, about this SSH app for Android, is really worrying. Will Google really manage to make it impossible to root your phone?

But there's more to this, it's more complicated. In the Big Picture, Google has every incentive to make these changes — they lead to more security, and they're aligned with Google's corporate goals as well.

When talking to users, Google will emphasize control over hackers.

When talking to stockholders, Google will emphasize control over users.

Edit: I disagree with "they lead to more security". That's not "security", let's not turn words upside-down.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The linked article — and others — explain that in Android 10+, (a) executable binaries can no longer reside in a read/write directory, and (b) access to /sdcard will go away. Simply put, these changes destroy my application's ability to function, and that of Termux as well.

That sounds like proper security to me? Inability to access the user's storage is a bit lame, but they've been moving to nicer APIs for that anyway.

Android is a mobile phone OS, not desktop / embedded Linux.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

A mobile phone that increasingly has more of your life on it at that. So whereas 12 years ago you might have just lost your contact list and some fart sound boards, today you have bank apps, payment apps, tickets, cards, identification, auto logged in shopping access, and more!

I know more recent versions of android made me curse at google for adding all these guard rails and walls making doing some stuff more difficult.

On the other hand I recently had a phone fall out of my pocket and in the time it took me to get from the corner back to the place I dropped it someone had nabbed it. I was suddenly a lot more appreciative of the restrictions in place that turned my stolen device into a chargeable paper weight.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That sounds like proper security to me?

For casual consumers, I guess. But for power users being able to download, modify, and execute code is core functionality. Shit doesn't work without it.