Comment by 0x3f

21 hours ago

Sounds a bit like trying to transfer my own money to myself at the bank. I.e. it seems designed to prevent old people getting scammed.

8 comments

0x3f

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hungryhobbit  21 hours ago

That's exactly what this is: Google is trying to prevent tech illiterate users from installing malware.

(Or at least, that's their take on this. You can choose to read between the lines, or not, as to whether they have other motivations also.)

  • mulmen  20 hours ago

    Define malware.

    • kube-system  20 hours ago

      The scams this directly targets are well known and common. Someone gets a phishing message, they have someone install some sort of malware on the device, then their bank accounts are drained into some offshore account never to be seen again.

      That's why there's a requirement for restarting the phone and waiting 24 hours.

      The restart ends the connection for any remote-access software or phone call that might be driving the operation -- and the 24 hour wait period breaks the "urgency" part of the scam that prevents other people who know better from stopping the vicim from continuing.

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  • raverbashing  21 hours ago

    Of course they have other motivations

    But for 1 person wanting to run their own software there are hundreds of people with the potential to install malware/crapware/etc

    • lucb1e  17 hours ago

      Had to read that sentence twice. You really think that there's more people getting scammed via "please tap the build number seven times and then go to extra settings and enable untrusted installs and then go to this website that I will dictate the URL of and you should ignore that install warning" etc etc etc. to install an apk to run software that can barely access more than a simple webpage could, than there are people (like HN'ers) who install apk files from github and f-droid?!

      (Also note that "crapware" describes basically every app you find in google's store. I try on occasion, when nobody made an open source this-or-that, and it's such a minefield. If that's the thing you're trying to avoid, I don't know how you could possibly feel positive about a requirement to only use the Play Store for the tech-illiterate)

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