Is Google Vilolating the Digital Markets Act (DMA)?

/e/OS Foundation & Community /e/OS in the News & Blogs
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A Google Approved Device is Now Required use the Internet?

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online services

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I was going to ask how all this affects to us as /e/OS users?

https://thecodersblog.com/google-breaks-recaptcha-for-de-googled-android-users-2026/

https://cybernews.com/privacy/google-qr-code-recaptcha-requires-approved-phone/

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@Iago When you watch the entire video, you’ll see the 3 parts that are involved and how this may impact e/OS users. The links you shared are also great sources of information. Thanks for sharing with everyone.

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the video is a good breakdown of rights to access infrastructure and policy instruments to address it. Let’s quote the outro:

We started with a question. Why do you need a phone to prove you are human on your desktop?

The technical answer is play services and QR codes and fraud prevention systems.

The actual answer is because one company became the infrastructure of the internet and infrastructure without accountability tends to serve whoever owns it.

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Lets not forget Googles parallel effort to block FOSS application. The two together are clearly an effort at closing AOSP.

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There is also a parallel thread: Google's New CAPTCHA Locks Out De-Googled Phones.

To be fair, the old “click on all cars” challenges will probably still be around, even if only for accessibility reasons - see Google's New CAPTCHA Locks Out De-Googled Phones - #2 by NJJJ and Google's New CAPTCHA Locks Out De-Googled Phones - #7 by Tentos.

Unfortunately, you may be right. I think that “closing AOSP” is not 100% the correct expression (although we are on the same page!): Google may keep AOSP open source, but using AOSP (i.e., Android without official Google apps) may get even more difficult.
An older article I have read a couple of years ago has described this pattern, which started with the introduction of the Google Play Services and the other Google apps, while the AOSP (open source) apps were more or less abandoned. Sure, the AOSP apps have continued to work, but the nice, good and newer features have only been available in the Google (closed source) apps.
(To be fair, the Google Play Services were also introduced to offer newer features and APIs to older devices that receive delayed or no longer any Android updates. However, making the Google apps the standard - and therefore Android installations without them less attractive - was certainly at least a desired side effect.)

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@Tentos @Manoj Hopefully the impact to e/OS & Murena will be minimal. No impact at all would be preferable.

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