Android Developer Verification means any developer or organization that wants to publish a mobile app now has to comply with either #Apple's or #Google's Terms of Service. That means two US companies now have a say in the apps that our governments make for their citizens, around the world.
#Android #developer #AndroidDeveloperVerification
#gatekeeper #DigitalRights #DigitalSovereignity
If you've seen my posts in the past weeks, you've seen me post about Chat Control 
In case you don't know what this is about, here's a short summary of the issue:
What is Chat Control? 
"Chat Control" refers to a series
of legislative proposals in the European Union that would make it mandatory for all service providers (text messaging, email, social media, cloud storage, hosting services, etc.) to scan all digital communications and files (including end-to-end encrypted ones), in order to supposedly detect whatever the government deems "abusive material."
This would also affect people outside of Europe, in one way or another 
This Friday, September 12th, EU countries will finalize their positions on the matter
Sadly, many countries currently support this proposition for unprecedented mass surveillance.
You can learn more about it, and what you can do to help, in this article 
https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/09/08/chat-control-must-be-stopped/#act-now
Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation in honoring the heroes of digital freedom at the 2025 EFF Awards! 
Celebrate the innovators, activists, and technologists shaping a better digital future.
Wed, Sept 10
6:00 PM PT reception (awards at 7:30, post-mingle at 8:30)
SF Design Center Galleria — 101 Henry Adams St, SF
https://www.eff.org/event/eff-awards-2025
Proton is Launching Another Product Already? | This Week in Privacy #17 (Sep 5, 2025)
Next week we're heading to #GlobalGathering2025 in Estoril, Portugal (Sept 8-10) 
! https://cloud68.co/blog/join-us-at-global-gathering-2025-to-rabt
Looking forward reconnecting with digital rights defenders, #infrared members, #rabt campaigners and other #movementhosting providers.
Could This Be the End of Android Sideloading? | This Week in Privacy #16 (Aug. 29, 2025)
Tuta Mail introduces key verification to strengthen end-to-end encryption and defend against MITM attacks 
Users can now verify contacts’ public keys via QR code or manual comparison.
If skipped, Tuta defaults to TOFU (Trust On First Use) for seamless encryption 
Arti 1.5.0 is out! 
The Rust-based Tor implementation adds new client features:
– Conflux
– Flow & congestion control
– Onion service PoW
– Bug fix for client bootstrapping 
MSRV now set to Rust 1.85.
Full changelog:
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/arti/-/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md?ref_type=heads#arti-150--28-august-2025
I want to share an important article from the The Tor Project about how Turkmenistan turned internet censorship into a business 
Officials block access to the open internet—then sell it back at a price. Tor, being free and effective, became a threat to their profit model
When censors become dealers, censorship becomes extortion.
https://blog.torproject.org/Corruption-Control-Turkmenistan-internet-censorship-business/
@Gargron Once you’ve bought the hardware, it’s yours, not a lease where the vendor still dictates your choices. Calling it sideloading makes it sound like something shady, when it’s just freedom to install what you want.
Want to fight for Palestinian #digitalrights? There is a super interesting job vacancy for #policy #advocacy folks at @7amleh :
https://7amleh.org/post/vacancy:-advocacy-department-manager
I know we're all tired,
And we all wish someone would come to save us (anytime now), and that we could just ignore everything and continue life as usual.
But nobody is coming to save us.
We have to save us.
We have to get together, organize, and take concrete actions to push back against authoritarianism and fascism. We have to fight for human rights, or we will lose them all.
It's exhausting, I know.
But the alternative is so much worse.
"Parents who find Signal on their child's phone should contact the police." - Petra Lundh, Sweden's National Police Commissioner
I don’t know what’s worse: if they actually believe this, or if they’re deliberately trying to fool the masses. Both are terrifying.
Framing a basic right to private communication as a danger isn’t just careless, it’s harmful.
What’s next? Criminals drive cars, call us if you see one.
Safe kids or privacy?!
That line shuts mouths. It turns every room into a suspect.
I think of a kid who needs a 2 a.m. chat. A friend planning a way out. Someone healing at their own pace. They need doors that close.
Blanket checks are not care. A net at the door teaches silence.
We can protect kids without tearing the doors off the hinges.
Care and privacy come together.
Privacy is a human right 
The EU's Chat Control law would force scanning of all private messages—including encrypted apps & emails—to fight child abuse 
Experts warn of mass surveillance, privacy loss & false accusations from automated scans 
Citizens can now email their MEPs directly to say NO. Take action before the Oct 14 vote 
https://fightchatcontrol.eu/
In case you are falsely feeling protected outside of Europe:
Chat Control doesn't just concern Europeans. It concerns all of us.
These kind of regulations will come for all of us, everywhere, if we do not ALL push against it everywhere.
If you do not understand how this is all intertwined, I invite you to read more privacy news and in-depth analysis. Because we must all support each other's privacy fights.
Privacy is a human right 
Fight for a better world, together 
#ChatControl #AgeVerification #DataMinimization #HumanRights #DigitalRights #Privacy #Encryption #E2EE #RootForE2EE
Lights are going out across the Net for UK users.
Age verification is driving sites to shut down, geo-block the UK or restrict features and content.
In trying to tackle to worst of the Net, it's harming the best.
ORG Exec Director, @jim
Last night, @pluralistic was in conversation with @mariafarrell to mark ORG's 20th birthday.
This wide-ranging conversation covers everything from the 'Internet dimension' of policy-making to copyright in the age of AI and how to fight for digital rights.
Plus much more!
Missed it live? No worries, you can watch it in full on Youtube 
Just unplugged my Google Homes *cough. listening devices*. Thanks, I can use Siri or native app to control my own lights thank you.
#Apple presents how it will charge developers who distribute their apps without Apple's involvement (outside the AppStore) with a new fee, the #CTC (yes, it's just a renamed #CTF Core Technology Fee).
IMHO no world in which Apple remains a #gatekeeper over which code people run on their devices and, worse, demands money for it, cannot be compatible with the #DigitalMarketAct.
