In instructions to Google, Judge Rossignoli says that the company must “adopt the necessary technical means to immediately uninstall from Android systems that report IP addresses in the territory of the Argentine Republic (which can be verified by the IP addresses assigned to this country), the application named Magis TV.”
"What was achieved is an unprecedented court order, which is in the process of being analyzed by Google – we understand that they cannot deny it – which is to uninstall, through the Android operating system update, the application on all devices that have an IP address in Argentina,” [prosecuter Alejandro] Musso says.
What will be achieved once this is completed is that the installed app disappears and cannot be downloaded again, thus breaking the cycle of digital piracy
You can’t break the cycle of digital piracy. Information wants to be free. Going against digital piracy is going against the grain of technology. But I guess if the copyright trolls got their way, there would be no general purpose computing.
I guess if the copyright trolls got their way, there would be no general purpose computing.
Exactly. These kinds of statements are so naive.
Woahh… This clowns lost their minds…
Customs ROMs are about to get some freshly minted enjoyers 🫢
Realistically, Google and then the other Android manufacturers will stop business in Argentina. Grey market will then be filling that niche, almost cerainly with imported phones.
They’ll just wind up on Chinese spy phones.
They think only Chinese phones are spy phones
BRB going to join the North Korean military
Jokes on you, I have a fairphone running graphene.
They think alphabet agencies can’t hack/infect/bug their fairphone at will without them even noticing.
Hahaha they think I actually own a phone.
How do you run Graphene on a Fair phone?
how’d you do that?
I would also like to know how you did that because as far as I’m aware Fairphone is not supported.
YFW they’re spy phones, all the way down.
All the more reason to !degoogle your devices.
How is this remotely Google’s responsibility?
It’s not, but it seems Argentina doesn’t think people should be allowed to own their phones.
because they are in full control. and because they are the only ones. thats more than good enough.
one should not use google in the first place.
ICC Arbitration coming in 3 … 2 …
Honestly, I hope Google just stops doing business in Argentina. Let their courts tussle with phone manufacturers that sell Android devices until they do the same. Not the end of the world if your citizens have to buy such things grey-market or keep using what they already have, or buy devices with other operating systems.
Before you say Apple, Apple would have to handle it pretty much the same as Google if/when they get sued/prosecuted like so.
Its just that Apple doesnt allow sideloading and thus can demand a takedown which could result in an automatic uninstall.
Wasn’t recently a resolution in the EU to allow apple to have alternative app stores and thus allow side loading?
Which applies to EU countries.
Not sure if apple is going to do separate builds for separate regionsIt’s not separate builds, but the App Store already checks your location when you access it, and it uses that location data along with other hints you are under EU jurisdiction to decide whether to allow you to sideload or not.
Or you can use the developer tools to perform a more limited form of sideloading in any country.
Even if you are a EU citizen, apple will remove your ability to sideload if you leave the EU for an extended period (I dont recall if it is 30 or 90 days)
They will do. Afaik the US and rest of the world will be stuck with the old FU-policy
Is google even able to do it? They are unable to push os updates directly in most cases, sinco those go through phone vendors. Idk if they already have the ability to remotely uninstall apps. Maybe through the appstore?
they can, through the mechanism that also allows to install apps to your phone from the google play store website.
The answers to this question would confirm or destroy a lot of tinfoil the good folks got floating around this here fora.
Well, I did not mean in a backdoor way. If google has a backdoor for the three letters agencies, I don’t expect they would reveal it even if the whole country of Argentine flipped itself over.
I meant in a public way. The play store can install apps remotely through a google account but I have no idea how far this goes.
They do with Play Services “Play Protect” feature
Even that is pretty limited since it can be disabled, and even if they changed it to not be officially able to be disabled by users, ROM makers can still disable it in various ways, and since their problem is TV boxes, including those shady unlicensed ones, I’m betting those would simply disable the feature via their unlicensed Android Roms.
Edit: Clarification, when I said unlicensed I didn’t mean Android itself, I mostly meant their use of Google play store and services which Google does require permission to use legitimately in your own Android product. Obviously it’s super easy to get them without google’s permission, it just won’t be licensed by them though if a company does that. And many TV boxes you buy cheap these days do indeed do that.
“unlicensed”
Sorry let me clarify, when I say unlicensed I meant that they are using Google Play services without Google’s permission or certification.
