cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/canada/p/727265/signal-to-ottawa-we-ll-leave-canada-before-we-help-you-spy-on-users
Signal is drawing a hard line on the federal government’s proposed surveillance legislation: comply with Bill C-22 or leave the country. The secure messaging app says it would rather ditch the Canadian market than be forced to weaken the privacy protections it has built its reputation on. In an interview with The Globe and Mail
The Canada-region app stores like Apple or Android would be unwilling to let you download the app if the law passes. So without sideloading, it just wouldn’t be accessible.
And by side loading you mean installing software on a device you own, like PCs have been forever. Side loading is a 100% bullshit term created by Apple and Google to try and make sure you don’t think you actually own your devices
That’s factually not true though. Side loading was a term used before Google was even a company and before devices had internet access or peripherals/accessories to directly connect media other than plugging into your computer. Before devices had internet and you had to plug them into your computer to transfer files and install non-stock software. They would just say unauthorized or unofficial software if side loading wasn’t a term. It’s not like they need that term to exist for their shit behavior.
Ok, I’m on board. So like what do we call installing an app outside of a store?
Installing a downloaded application.
Installing for short
Installing an apk, installing directly, …
As opposed to installing from Fdroid, from gplay, …
You can also go by source, like with the stores. For example Signal android can be installed from their website (by downloading an apk).
It’s not sideloading.
Any reason Signal couldn’t offer a web app client?
cuz they dont store msgs on a server. feature, not a bug
Web browsers have a local storage API.
Signal mentioned that their apps were best for security and a web browser had too many vulnerabilities that they couldn’t guarantee.
They prefer to manage their own apps - a signal desktop app being one of them.
Am I the only one who has app store accounts for multiple regions?
But actually, if this happens (and it won’t, at least this time), the next bill to go through would have to be for the right to sideload. Because all of the politicians use Signal and would need a way to install it.
Or people could just install it from fdroid.
Oh wait, signal isn’t FOSS so it isn’t allowed on fdroid.
Molly is on fdroid I believe
Not the official repo…because they couldn’t meet it’s acceptance criteria. Which is a red flag
Yep and Molly is even better :)
I think it used to, but unfortunely Molly is not on Fdroid’s repo. You can download it from the app, but you’d need to add Molly’s repo
https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android AGPL
Lol no.
Download the apk. It includes that AGPL and also non free blobs. Just because part of if is Foss does not make if foss
Nothing to laugh at here in my view. It is FOSS. The reason it isn’t on there is sort of procedural. You could easily build signal from source, but signal prefers only their builds connect to their servers. They of course can’t enforce this but fdroid is happy to do so.
GrapheneOS frowns upon fdroid because of apk security reasons
And we frown upon grapheneOS because of numerous human concerns
Well unless they want to add verified APKs of all the apps I do use to their app store, their frowning is useless because every graphene user basically needs f-droid as it stands now.
I get it from FDroid via the Guardian repo. No issues.
Security issues. guardian repo has no acceptances criteria. Closed source blobs? Allowed.
what about Molly, then?
Molly is Foss, but it’s not on fdroid for likely other sketchy reasons
Its on Accrescent though
You can import the repo into F-Droid.
…and make yourself less secure, sure