alt Hacker NewsFrom my point of view I don't see anything wrong with knowing a little bit more about the person behind the app I'm trusting to do my personal compute on my personal device. Personally I always think twice when I download apps from company's whose names I don't recognize. Same with PCs... do you really want to run that *.exe you downloaded from that cool site you found?
Changes like this will help keep developers honest and accountable. Yeah yeah bad apples will still find ways to screw us.
If you want to publish an app to a global scale ecosystem, is it really too much to ask to give some ID?
Replies
This isn't the issue that's at stake here though: The question is:
> Who is making the decision which code is allowed to run on my device?
The status quo is already that can make this decision yourself. There are other people who make different decisions from you.
The proposed change is trying to take this decision away from you and making google the arbiter of which code is allowed to run.
The core of this issue is the opposite of "publishing an app to a global scale ecosystem" - I want to publish an app that is useful for me and a very small circle of people, that is what's being taken away.
It's the no way to op out from this that is bad.
Sounds like a classic astroturfer. Did you read tfa? Perhaps engage with some of those arguments already made on that page eg wrt ID.
> Same with PCs... do you really want to run that *.exe you downloaded from that cool site you found?
Yes, I am fully capable of making decisions about what software to run on my personal hardware on my own, thanks. I don't need Apple or Google or Microsoft to make this decision for me.
They're trying to fix social engineering. It's simply not possible.