There is an option in the microg settings to enable SafetyNet. I can’t confirm whether it works, since I don’t have any apps that require it. I’ve heard it’s a bit of a cat and mouse game.
I don’t know much about this, since I haven’t needed it myself. But personally, if safetynet uses Google servers or code for authentication, then I’d rather just leave it turned off. Even if it breaks a few apps.
Not being beholden to Google in any way just feels too damn good.
I don’t know what to tell you mate. Have you tried microG recently?
I’m running my banking app, social media apps, a bunch of games, mail app etc, all without play services.
https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-not-work-with-microg/21151
Paid apps are harder to get working, but I’ve had some success patching them with luckypatcher.
Honestly though, the biggest surprise to me was how little I needed those proprietary apps. Usually with a bit of digging I was able to find great open source alternatives.
I highly recommend lineageOS, or better yet lineageOS with microg.
Running a completely degoogled android phone right now, and it feels smooth as butter. Microg has gotten so good, the vast majority of playstore apps work completely fine even without Google services, including things like my banking apps.
Feels liberating as fuck, not gonna lie.
Only apps that don’t work for me are ones that require IaP’s. About 30% of those I can crack with LuckyPatcher. I can also crack other paid apps with license protection.
Mostly I havent needed to do any of that though, because I’ve found that there are so many great open source apps that do the things I need.
I haven’t really noticed that tbh, though I definitely believe it. A sizeable portion of people who populate ‘alternative’ platforms, are the people who get kicked off of, or censored on, mainstream platforms.
Unfortunately, that often means that those platforms struggle to attract regular users and content, since regular users are scared away by the existing users bad behavior…
The only way I can see those platforms really getting over that hump, is when the major platforms make stupid, overreaching, and greedy decisions. Pushing their regular users away, and onto those alternative platforms.
I don’t know what it will take to get ‘regular’ users migrating off of youtube. But I can tell you right now that I will NOT accept watching ads, nor will I ever pay a cent to google.
The day that I am unable to block ads on youtube will be the last day that I use it.
You could give Odysee a try. I was pleasently surprised at how well it works, and how nice the UI/UX is. Especially considering it is a decentralized platform.
It’s missing a lot of the content that youtube has. Especially if you trying to look up a specific video or niche topic. But there’s still a lot of great content available if you are happy to browse.
Odysee is a great, decentralised alternative if you are looking to jump ship.
If you do end up sticking with youtube, ReVanced is good. Smart Tube Next is good for TVs, and firefox + ublock origin on desktop.
Check out Odysee. Open source, decentralized, great interface. It’ s a great youtube alternative but is unfortunately still a little lacking in content.
Hopefully youtube continuing to pull shit like this will drive users there, much like reddit has driven users here.
Google is an ad company. To them, a web browser is nothing more than a tool for collecting user data and delivering ads.
When you use a chromium based browser you are allowing google, an ad company, to decide what the future of web browsing should look like. And this is the result.
Firefox is the ONLY browser which is genuinely competing with google. Do you think ad and tracking blockers are going to get better or worse once they die out, and literally every major browser is running on chromium?
Use firefox and u-block origin. Enjoy a superior, ad free, browsing experience, and support the future of an open web.
Yeah… fuck that lol. Why would you ruin pefectly good FOSS by knowingly slapping proprietary adware crap on top of it.
LineageOS for microg: degoogled android. DuckDuckGo: search. Firefox: web browser. Ublock origin: ad blocker. Proton: email. OsmAnd+: maps.
Only google product I still use is youtube, but I have made some efforts here:
On desktop pc I use firefox with sponserblock and ublock origin to hide ads and automatically skip sponsered content. I also have an addon called unhook, which hides recommendations, ‘people also watched’ etc.
I also use and recommend Odysee as a youtube alternative.
On my TV I use SmartTubeNext, on my phone I use revanced.
I host my own music server with navidrome (and my own video media server with Jellyfin). But when I dont have access to that, I also use ViMusic as a youtube music replacement for (degoogled) android.
Can absolutely recommend any and all of the tools I listed.
The problem is that defederation is that it causes damage to the wider network, and can be far too easily abused.
It makes instance selection very important to the user (which is already a major friction point). And causes terrible UX when users can’t figure out why content is unavailable to them.
It can also be used as a weapon by powerhungry admins to force centralization around their instance.
I know there aren’t really great alternatives to defederation for content moderation right now. But I think that these could easily be implemented. For example, instances could maintain a ‘blocklist’ which users could automatically be subscribed to upon joining, but they would be able to inspect and ‘opt-out’ from blocking certain instances or categories if they desired.
I think this is a good balance of protecting users, and also respecting their freedom.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean they could POST rule breaking content. (They are still users of your instance after all). Just that they would have the choice of which content they feel comfortable with VIEWING.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And defederation is a nuclear powered sledgehammer lol.
Your points are valid, but that doesn’t mean we should do nothing. Enforcing federation and using copyleft licensing are both strong defenses against centralization and network dominance by a well funded third party.
As far as GPL goes, from what I’ve seen, big tech companies tend to take it pretty seriously. There is no reason we shouldn’t be using that, and other license protections if we have the option.
As for natural centralization over time, I think that is a far less urgent problem than the current risks we are facing, those being major network fragmentation due to the use of defederation, and the risk of centralization around a proprietary platform and/or instance.
Removal of defederation and strong copyleft licensing seem to be natural first steps in combatting that risk.
Seems like just another reason why defederation should be completely removed from the protocol. It’s way too easy to abuse and force centralisation.
There are other far less destructive and abusable ways of dealing with spam and content moderation.
I maintain that it’s better to give the users the control, and allow them to decide which instances, communities, and users they want to be exposed to. Bottom up moderation, instead of top down.
For example, instances can provide suggested ‘block’ lists (much like how an ad blocker works) and users can decide whether or not to apply those lists at their own discretion.
By forcing federation, the network stays decentralized. Maintaining community blacklists that can be turned on or off by the individual user protects against heavy handed moderation and censorship, whilst also protecting users from being exposed to undesirable content.
I think lots of boomers and gen-x do care. (At least the ones I know). They just aren’t tech literate enough to do anything about it.
I think we need more privacy oriented devices and software with simple ux, and advertising that isn’t targetted at the tech community.
Run some TV ads for a privacy enabled smartphone, and play up how it works just the same as your current phone but doesn’t spy on you. Shit like that.