@koz Nope, they're now also just going to give that data to bigots for free so they can harass you.

Lovely future this is.

@amberage They replaced it with "do the right thing" somewhere down the line, but never specified for who.

My guess is it is supposed to end with either "for shareholder profit" or "for bigots". They're definitely never doing the right thing for their users or developers.

@amberage @SylvieLorxu they realized evil pays well

@amberage @SylvieLorxu capitalism

@yoniden @SylvieLorxu

I know there's already a growing hue and cry about the WEI crap, and a not insignificant amount of pushback. (Though admittedly, I'm not sure how effective it is insofar as making Google actually back off, yet.)

Is it possible that there'll be a similar backlash that can get Google to back away from this ill-founded idea? Or is this locked in at the corporate level and they're ignoring the public?

@OmniQi Sure although feel free to skip attribution too (whatever you feel is best). I don't really care so much to be the one spreading this message, I just care about this message being spread and hopefully enough people forcing Google to take a few steps back from this awful policy.

@obfusk @SylvieLorxu that's already th case, right?

@dylanvanassche It would mean taking updates away from 70k users and make basic privacy harder to find for many so it sucks. Definitely going to need to consider it if Google keeps being this abusive...

@daniel @SylvieLorxu an office under 7 intl shell companies and 3 trusts.

@daniel As stated in the first screenshot: "Developers with existing Play Console accounts will also be required to provide this information soon."

It's definitely yet another thing that disproportionally affects those poorer and/or queer and that the rich can easily avoid accountability for, yeah. It shows the importance of us all standing together to protect ourselves, no matter which of us is being attacked specifically.

@Franterest26 True, but developers deserve privacy too, especially hobbyists or self-employed small devs.

@astraluma @SylvieLorxu not everyone can afford that.

@pthenq1@mastodon.la @SylvieLorxu@chaos.social No. (AFAIK)

@SkellySoft Sideloading is still possible and @fdroidorg exists for FOSS apps. But if you want to make a living on Android apps, especially as someone who has a chance of getting attacked IRL, your only option seems to be to make enough money to hide your identity behind a LLC or something. It's truly disgusting, only the rich get to have any privacy and safety again, the rest of us have to tell bigots where we live.

@SkellySoft@mastodon.gamedev.place @SylvieLorxu@chaos.social you don't have to publish on the play store, unlike ios android allows 3rd party app stores (for example f-droid), or you could just upload a plain APK somewhere (although I won't like you if you do that, as that's a pain to manage for users)

@SylvieLorxu if anyone needs help walking through it, I've done the LLC part in two states now to open other business accounts.

The down side is your LLC can still be looked up and you will be a registered agent. You can hire a registered agent or list an ally you trust too.

This is garbage to be clear.

@iagondiscord I am, don't worry. But it'd still suck to have to leave the 70k Google Play users behind without updates because Google's absurd developer-unfriendly policies.

@beebles@social.beebl.es @SylvieLorxu@chaos.social how many cisgender people have been harassed, assaulted or murdered for being cis? That's what i thought wiseguy

@beebles As a queer person my own focus is on my own community (especially given the extreme surge in anti-trans laws and hate lately), but yes, there are many other valid reasons to not want to share your work under your legal name and to want to keep all location info private and this definitely also causes some danger to non-queer people.