Keep Android Open

As can be read on keepandroidopen.org Google's planned changes to Android's app ecosystem would have catastrophic consequences. Here is my Email to the DMA and Antitrust teams of the EU.

You are more than welcome to use my Email as a template for your own.

Subject: Concerns about the recent developements on the Android app ecosystem
To: EC-DMA@ec.europa.eu EC-DMA@ec.europa.eu, COMP-GREFFE-ANTITRUST@ec.europa.eu COMP-GREFFE-ANTITRUST@ec.europa.eu

Dear DMA and Antitrust team,

It is with alarm that I and many others look upon the recent announcement by Google to effectively lock down the Android app ecosystem (https://developer.android.com/developer-verification).

By requiring developers to...

• pay a fee to Google
• agree to Google's Terms and Conditions
• provide government Identification
• upload evidence of the developer's private signing key
• list all current and future application identifiers

...the promise of an open operating system for mobile devices dies.

Android has been the only real option for users and developers interested in privacy and digital sovereignty as the other oligarch on the market - IOS - is already completely locked down.
Since there is practically no way for most people to use truly free operating systems such as LineageOS or GrapheneOS on a daily basis since these are not supported by governments and companies alike, Android is the only possibility for regular users to have any control over their data and device.
Just recently Apple was reprimanded by the EU for it's monopolistic practices and now Google is going the same route with Android.
Especially for politically active, or uniquely endangered citizens the prospect of Google having influence on what apps are allowed on a device they bought is more than a little scary.
As we have seen in the US, where an ICE-warning app was removed from the Google-Play-Store, such power leaves the users in the mercy of a large tech corporation.

The planned change would severely limit the user's freedom of how they use the device they payed for and strengthen Google's monopoly.
Therefore we urge you to take action against this to strengthen user rights in the EU as you have in the past!

I would be very happy for a written acknowledgement of this email to show that my thoughts and fears as an EU-citizen are being heard.

Thanks for your work and I hope you take our worries seriously.

With kind regards
lorax