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Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:26AM (#45051322)
Please bear in mind that Google was perfectly aware how much negative feedback they will receive from developers and they are completely and fully prepared for it. In other words, this decision was made with full awareness that developers and "screeching voices of minority" won't like it.
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by kotaKat on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:46AM (#45051504)
Yep. In the announcement, they already got full green light approval from various governments basically saying this was a great idea and the clear path ahead.

> …with Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs praising it for providing a “balanced approach” that protects users while keeping Android open.

> …Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society sees it as a “positive and proactive measure” that aligns with their national digital safety policies.

> In Brazil, the Brazilian Federation of Banks (FEBRABAN) sees it as a “significant advancement in protecting users and encouraging accountability.”

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by username332211 on Thursday August 28, 2025 @10:07AM (#45052356)
The fact that they haven't cited any endorsement from a first-world organization or government is interesting.

I'd be curious to know, if it was because they never asked for one or because they never got one?

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by nashashmi on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:09AM (#45051723)
Did the US government not give endorsement?
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by weirdpickles on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:28AM (#45051917)
The "feature" isn't being rolled out to the US yet, so it doesn't appear that any official statement has been made one way or the other by the US government.

Google is orchestrating buy-in with world governments. They've already signaled that this is happening everywhere, no matter what, and its just a paced rollout unfortunately.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by deltaburnt on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:58AM (#45052274)
The restrictions are initially limited to those countries.
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by danillonunes on Thursday August 28, 2025 @01:11PM (#45054584)
FEBRABAN is an association that represents the banks at the federal level, but it's not a government entity.
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by jerf on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:18AM (#45051813)
They can still miscalculate the intensity of the backlash or the willingness of people to do something about it. Many such stories. "The enemy has a plan so let's do nothing" is a great way to get consistently rolled in the world. As the saying goes, everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face; dishing out the occasional (and in this case fully metaphorical) punch in the face is not a hopeless endeavor.

(I agree with some other threads that merely signing a random petition is not a punch to the face. That's just whining. Systematic and organized, perhaps, but just whining.)

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by AnonymousPlanet on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:14AM (#45051763)
The nerds are the ones who pave the way for technology, enabling people around them to adapt more easily to it. They find new paths into the undiscovered land that then get either shut down or commercially exploited. Companies like Google have piggybacked on this volunteer work.

I have the feeling that these companies don't need nerds anymore. Who needs pioneers if everything is paved and regulated?

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by SiempreViernes on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:36AM (#45051405)
Do you have evidence that they have accurate estimates of the potential for backlash? It is not that uncommon that people in power take decisions without thinking them though properly
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:48AM (#45051534)
I've got no evidence that they have an estimation of the volume or scale of the feedback.

But I reckon we can all make an educated guess that they did anticipate negative feedback.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by tliltocatl on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:53AM (#45051588)
You might be right, but didn't same thing applied to Web Environment Integrity stuff, that they ended up stepping back on (for how short of a time stretch is another story)?
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:58AM (#45051628)
First, web environment integrity was about the web as a whole, not about something that is completely owned and under their control. Second, they will not stop trying. It was not their first approach and it won't be the last.

So, I believe that if they decided this is the path they want to take - they will find one way or another. It's not that resistance is futile (it's not!) but I believe that petitions are not a good tool for the case.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by pbhjpbhj on Thursday August 28, 2025 @10:09AM (#45052371)
I mean, who is going to stop them, USA doesn't have a functioning government any more -- for large corporations just pay Trump a bribe (eg a "settlement" for a court case; or a very expensive meal ticket) and do what you like.

Google pay fealty to Trump, who is going in to bat for consumers over this when they won't even protect the constitution or rule of law?

[dead]
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:42AM (#45051461)
> delegitimize developer criticism before addressing its substance. This attacks the critics rather than engaging with their actual concerns

It’s a petition, not a debate. Who is speaking is absolutely relevant. Tens of thousands of tiny developers with a few million collective users aren’t relevant to Google.

> Appeal to Corporate Omniscience

This is not a logical fallacy. You may be thinking of appeal to improper authority. But in that case the criticism is that we don’t know Google anticipated this. Not what you wrote, which is technically ad hominem, since you conclude adversely based on Google being a corporation.

> ignores the possibility that feedback could be legitimate even if anticipated

No, it does not. It says such a petition brings no new information to the decision makers at Google. If Google (note: this is OP’s hypothesis, not a fact) anticipated small developers complaining. Small developers are complaining. That doesn’t make the complaints wrong. But it would make them practically irrelevant.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:45AM (#45051482)
I did not mention the petition. I am merely offering feedback on the grandparent's argument about Google's policy (which itself also does not mention the petition).

It is absolutely a debate. Why are you here if not to debate?

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:43AM (#45051469)
> The phrase "screeching voices of minority" is a

https://www.howtogeek.com/746588/apple-discusses-screeching-...

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:46AM (#45051505)
> Appeal to Corporate Omniscience - The argument assumes that because Google anticipated negative feedback, this somehow validates their decision or renders criticism invalid. A company expecting pushback doesn't automatically make their decision correct.

This argument is not present nor implied in my comment.

> Circular Reasoning - The logic is essentially: "Google knew people would complain, therefore the complaints don't matter because Google expected them." This doesn't address whether the complaints have merit.

My text did not comment or expressed any opinion whether the complaints have merit.

> False Dichotomy - It implies that developer feedback is either completely valid (and Google should have changed course) or completely invalid (because Google was "prepared" for it). This ignores the possibility that feedback could be legitimate even if anticipated.

My comment does not present this dichotomy as described by you.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by kotaKat on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:48AM (#45051535)
The easy thing to do is ignore an AI slop comment like that, because someone apparently couldn’t think for themselves and had to shove it into an arrogant little machine to come up with a response.
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:50AM (#45051558)
Whether or not the arguments are AI generated is itself a logical fallacy.

Insinuating I cannot think is also a logical fallacy.

Man you guys are really bad at this.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by Otek on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:58AM (#45051624)
it's really sad that just pointing out logical mistakes in someone's post gets you attacked, and ppl even accuse you of using AI like it's changing anything. we seriously need a proper public campaign to teach folks how to actually have real discussions again and to spot weak or irrelevant arguments

this comment was AI generated or was it

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:04AM (#45051679)
I am very happy if it made a few people think and/or get upset!

My comment was totally AI generated, obviously. But as you lovingly touched on, it is irrelevant :)

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:09AM (#45051725)
> sad that just pointing out logical mistakes in someone's post gets you attacked

They didn’t. They mis-applied fallacies and in one case made one up. There was no substantial good-faith response to OP’s argument. Instead we got a shallow dismissal masked in the language (but not substance) of logic.

It was fun to engage with! But not meaningful. The online-commenting equivalent of scrolling short-form videos and getting enraged or delighted or awe-struck for a picosecond.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:11AM (#45051739)
Can you elaborate how the other fallacies were mis-applied, please?
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:25AM (#45051882)
> Can you elaborate how the other fallacies were mis-applied

Sure. OP didn’t ever reject the developers’ arguments. He’s criticising their methods for activism. But, even if OP were attacking their arguments:

OP doesn’t reject the developers’ methods (remember, their arguments are never contested) because of who is speaking, but how. To the extent it could be mistaken for ad hominem, it would be in tone policing, but that’s not what you said and it is not true because OP was citing Apple’s language, as evidenced by the quotes.

Appeal to corporate omniscience is not a fallacy. (And OP doesn’t cite Google as evidence for their arguments, so no appeal to authority.)

Circular reasoning doesn’t apply, even to your example, because complaints not mattering doesn’t cause Google to expect them.

False dichotomy does not apply because OP never argued any dichotomy. The closest they came was hyperbolic language (“perfectly” and “completely and fully”). But that’s closer to modal scope than any dichotomy, possibly fallacy of necessity since it implies future limits.

Arguments rarely require citing the formal or informal fallacy invoked. Instead, just respond to the argument. This is a great case of AI corrupting a discussion through derailment and false confidence.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @09:57AM (#45103183)
> Arguments rarely require citing the formal or informal fallacy invoked.

I disagree. If I suspect a fallacy I will cite it in your face.

I also disagree with your analysis of the fallacies that the AI identified. I do not care to continue or have time to elaborate much though. Sorry, I just wanted to let you know I strongly disagree with how you are all hurt by perfectly fine AI-generated arguments.

Btw can you all please tell me just one more time that the "appeal to corporate omniscience" isn't in the Wikipedia list of fallacies (which is just as arbitrary a source as a good LLM)? Tomato tomato, arguing semantics is soooo boring

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @11:35AM (#45104459)
> If I suspect a fallacy I will cite it in your face

And my cat will yell before his dinner time. We all have useless impulses. The question is if it accomplishes anything.

Also, you didn’t suspect anything. A language model thought for you. Your role was in copying and pasting. Not understanding or commanding.

> disagree with your analysis of the fallacies that the AI identified

Sure.

For what it’s worth, I ran your comment—over drinks—past a professor of philosophy who has published peer-reviewed research out of Columbia. He said I was too gentle. It’s gibberish of a form that wouldn’t make it past undergrad formal logic.

We have no doubt you and plenty of others will regurgitate AI tripe with confidence. (This happened with television and organised religion in the past.) And I’ll admit I haven’t found, yet, how to profit off that common temptation other than investing in the companies that facilitate it. But I think I will, because folks who will double down on hallucinated constructs are commonplace.

> can you all please tell me just one more time that the "appeal to corporate omniscience" isn't in the Wikipedia list of fallacies

It’s in no philosophy text, either. Because it is, in itself, an appeal to authority. (Incorporation isn’t a logical primitive. It is a social construct.)

> which is just as arbitrary a source as a good LLM

To the extent a peer-reviewed paper is the same as a grad student, sure.

(There is also rich irony in a corporate LLM hallucinating a fallacy about corporate omniscience. The stupid part, here, is the doubling down.)

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Friday September 05, 2025 @04:46PM (#45143401)
> For what it’s worth, I ran your comment—over drinks—past a professor of philosophy who has published peer-reviewed research out of Columbia. He said I was too gentle. It’s gibberish of a form that wouldn’t make it past undergrad formal logic.

Man I'm legit super interested in this. Roast me a bit more please. Why is it such an amateur line of thinking? The OP's argument is f*cking circular, you should discard the argument completely if you care about logic, no? I don't see it, please help me see it. TEACH ME.

> Also, you didn’t suspect anything. A language model thought for you. Your role was in copying and pasting. Not understanding or commanding.

No, you are assuming, why are you assuming I can't think? Notice, once more, the use of the basic ad hominem (how can I not mention this?). Why do you bring up your peer-reviewed friend? This is the appeal to authority fallacy again, are you freaking kidding me? Why don't you share with us why my line of reasoning is childish or whatever, instead of "my PhD friend said no"?

I smelled circular logic and decided to check with Claude - that's it buddy! It should NOT be relevant whether or not I copied bits from AI, because it is another fallacy. Would you pick on me if I had consulted a dictionary or used Wikipedia to double check fallacies?

> It’s in no philosophy text, either. Because it is, in itself, an appeal to authority. (Incorporation isn’t a logical primitive. It is a social construct.)

100% I will eat shit on this one detail only, of course the LLM went off the rails a little bit here, but why did everyone get so stuck on a silly rephrasing/aliasing of canonical-form fallacies, when everyone can clearly sense the canonical-form that it points to.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by komali2 on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:55AM (#45051595)
> Man you guys are really bad at this.

Not really. You should have learned by now that jumping into a conversation on the internet with the wikipedia "list of logical fallacies" page open on the other half of the screen and then vaguely ascribing aspects of a comment to a cherry-picked list of fallacies basically only ever results in people making fun of you.

I don't even think that would fly on reddit. People have been making fun of that style of response since IRC. If anybody is bad at anything, it's you at understanding how to have a productive conversation on an internet forum.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by j4hdufd8 on Tuesday September 02, 2025 @10:09AM (#45103337)
> ... only ever results in people making fun of you.

Why would I care about people making fun of me or IRC/Reddit etiquette or whatever? What kind of an argument is that? I thought on HN we seek the truth about the topic, not social approval right? Maybe you are projecting your own insecurities about discussing things online?

I firmly believe I added helpful indications that the arguments could be fallacious. It is up to the readers of the thread to keep my indications in consideration or not. I would advise you to focus on _other_ arguments, instead of the potentially fallacious and baseless argument.

I really don't understand the issues with using. You're all okay with using Cursor and Lovable to aid and speed up coding tasks right? Seems like such a weird double standard to me. More interestingly it seems to come from an emotional place, not a place of logic.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by kotaKat on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:52AM (#45051575)
Ah yes, the San Francisco Consultant now screeching “logical fallacies!” like it’s a magic defense. It’s not, lol.

LAST MINUTE EDIT: lol, [dead] comment.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:50AM (#45051562)
ZeroGPT [1] says human written. It strikes me as more rationalist slop than AI generated. Though it might be both.

EDIT: Never mind, they hallucinated appeal to corporate omniscience. Flagged.

[1] https://www.zerogpt.com/

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:54AM (#45051592)
Unrelated: none of the "AI detectors" work. It is impossible to discern human text from AI. Although sometimes we might believe we can feel it, it is still false.
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by swexbe on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:56AM (#45051607)
I just pasted my last conversation with ChatGPT into that which also gave me 0% AI GPT. I would take that site with a mountain of salt.
Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by OgsyedIE on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:51AM (#45051564)
The above post listing fallacies is entirely AI-generated and is likely a sleeper agent account that has been woken up from a pattern of posting non-content to disguise inactivity to start astroturfing for Google.

The cost/benefit of doing such on Hn is high.

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday August 28, 2025 @09:34AM (#45051973)
> likely a sleeper agent account that has been woken up from a pattern of posting non-content to disguise inactivity to start astroturfing for Google

“Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email [email protected] and we'll look at the data.”

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by creatonez on Thursday August 28, 2025 @03:28PM (#45056058)
What an excellent reason to not mobilize on this issue...

...No. Giving them the loud protest they deserve is the bare minimum

Re:Petition to stop Google from restricting sideloading and ... by egorfine on Friday August 29, 2025 @05:19AM (#45061928)
Well... initially I would like to agree with you. When company does a dumb thing they may find out that users are not happy with the choice and then retract.

But in this particular case, they knew exactly and in advance that developers won't like the change, hence why I believe that in this particular case whining won't dent a thing.