Comment by klabb3
21 days ago
The crazy thing is this is all under the pretense of preventing malware. And I constantly hear this argument that the app stores protect people, even from developers.
I truly don't get it. Are these people from 2009? Have they seen the apps on the current app stores? If you're lucky your highest rated flashlight app will only have a few Fullscreen ads and a subscription less than $10/mo. The recipe sites from content farms are less bloated and way less scammy.
It's certainly not about preventing scams. It's about preventing competition in the scamming business.
I happen to know the situation in some of the countries mentioned in the article.
There are millions of $ stolen via side-loaded malware.
It's good they decided to do something about it.
... and that pales in comparison to the billions stolen via malicious actors on certified software. Lol.
I don't need to sideload a fucking fake bank app to steal your money. Get real. This isn't how most fraud or scams are done. Grandma isn't gonna install a fucking unsigned binary on her android phone. But she IS going to give out her password.
from the techcrunch article:
> According to its own survey, Google says that more than 50 times more malware came through internet-sideloaded sources compared with Google Play, where it has required developer verification since 2023.
50:1 is not preventing. It is just "well, we are better than nothing"
I'm pretty sure there can be other curated stores that can serve the customer¹
[1] customer: owner of phone, not advertisers, data merchants, etc
I regard Google highly in many domains, but this needs independent research. There is just waay too much opportunity to misuse data to paint a picture of themselves as the protectors. Especially curious about their definition of malware, because to me the app stores seem worse than browser toolbars from the 2000s.
It also shows how bad Google is at preventing malware in the Play store. There are far more than 50x more installs from the Play store than from side loading, which means that most malware is installed through the Play store, despite the much lower barrier to entry for side loading.