- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Wikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor Backlash
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jun '25

12 Jun '25

'The Wikimedia Foundation halted an experiment that would have displayed AI-generated summaries atop Wikipedia articles after the platform's volunteer editor community delivered an overwhelmingly negative response to the proposal. The foundation announced the two-week mobile trial on June 2 and suspended it just one day later following dozens of critical comments from editors. The experiment, called "Simple Article Summaries," would have used Cohere's open-weight Aya model to generate simplified versions of complex Wikipedia articles. The AI-generated summaries would have appeared at the top of articles with a yellow "unverified" label, requiring users to click to expand and read them. Editors responded with comments including "very bad idea," "strongest possible oppose," and simply "Yuck."' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/06/11/1732215 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Android 16 Is Here
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

'Today, we're bringing you Android 16, rolling out first to supported Pixel devices with more phone brands to come later this year. This is the earliest Android has launched a major release in the last few years, which ensures you get the latest updates as soon as possible on your devices. Android 16 lays the foundation for our new Material 3 Expressive design, with features that make Android more accessible and easy to use.' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/06/10/2021249 Cheers, Peter

1 0

RIP Bill Atkinson
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 08 Jun '25

08 Jun '25

This article <https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/07/bill-atkinson-rip> reports the death of legendary Apple Macintosh pioneer Bill Atkinson, at the age of 74, from cancer. Atkinson is known for, among other things, the “QuickDraw” graphics engine, which was at the core of how those early Macintoshes could manage graphics drawing at interactive speeds, on a processor running at a nominal 8MHz clock speed, with no hardware acceleration. He also created the MacPaint application, to show off the artistic capabilities of the Macintosh -- and its ease of use. There is a video somewhere of Atkinson’s 2-year-old daughter using MacPaint, her tiny fist barely big enough to cover the mouse, otherwise being quite comfortable figuring out the drawing tools. And later, he created HyperCard, which was one of those forays into “end-user programming” which was perhaps more successful than most. Atkinson is named on Apple’s patent for the “region” structure, which was a compact way of representing arbitrary regions of pixels, which might have holes in them or even consist of entirely disjoint pieces. These structures were heavily used in QuickDraw for clipping graphics drawing (particularly for dealing with overlapping windows), though they could be rendered as graphics objects in their own right. Apple’s patent meant that nobody else could use that structure. For example, X11 had to use a less efficient way of representing pixel regions. The patent did finally expire around 2004, I think it was.

1 0

KDE Targets Windows 10 'Exiles' Claiming 'Your Computer is Toast'
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

'Linux desktop darling KDE is weighing in on the controversy around the impending demise of Windows 10 support with a lurid "KDE for Windows 10 Exiles" campaign. KDE's alarming "Exiles" page opens with the text "Your computer is toast" followed by a warning that Microsoft wants to turn computers running Windows 10 into junk from October 14. "It may seem like it continues to work after that date for a bit, but when Microsoft stops support for Windows 10, your perfectly good computer will be officially obsolete." Beneath a picture of a pile of tech junk, including a rotary telephone and some floppy drives, KDE proclaims: "Windows 10 will degrade as more and more bugs come to light. With nobody to correct them, you risk being hacked. Your data, identity, and control over your device could be stolen."' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/06/04/186206 The exiles page: https://kde.org/for/w10-exiles/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Meta and Yandex Are De-Anonymizing Android Users' Web Browsing Identifiers
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

'"It appears as though Meta (aka: Facebook's parent company) and Yandex have found a way to sidestep the Android Sandbox," writes Slashdot reader TheWho79. Researchers disclose the novel tracking method in a report: We found that native Android apps -- including Facebook, Instagram, and several Yandex apps including Maps and Browser -- silently listen on fixed local ports for tracking purposes. These native Android apps receive browsers' metadata, cookies and commands from the Meta Pixel and Yandex Metrica scripts embedded on thousands of web sites. These JavaScripts load on users' mobile browsers and silently connect with native apps running on the same device through localhost sockets. As native apps access programmatically device identifiers like the Android Advertising ID (AAID) or handle user identities as in the case of Meta apps, this method effectively allows these organizations to link mobile browsing sessions and web cookies to user identities, hence de-anonymizing users' visiting sites embedding their scripts. This web-to-app ID sharing method bypasses typical privacy protections such as clearing cookies, Incognito Mode and Android's permission controls. Worse, it opens the door for potentially malicious apps eavesdropping on users' web activity. While there are subtle differences in the way Meta and Yandex bridge web and mobile contexts and identifiers, both of them essentially misuse the unvetted access to localhost sockets. The Android OS allows any installed app with the INTERNET permission to open a listening socket on the loopback interface (127.0.0.1). Browsers running on the same device also access this interface without user consent or platform mediation. This allows JavaScript embedded on web pages to communicate with native Android apps and share identifiers and browsing habits, bridging ephemeral web identifiers to long-lived mobile app IDs using standard Web APIs. This technique circumvents privacy protections like Incognito Mode, cookie deletion, and Android's permission model, with Meta Pixel and Yandex Metrica scripts silently communicating with apps across over 6 million websites combined. Following public disclosure, Meta ceased using this method on June 3, 2025. Browser vendors like Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and DuckDuckGo have implemented or are developing mitigations, but a full resolution may require OS-level changes and stricter enforcement of platform policies to prevent further abuse.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/03/205251 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Beware of the Browser-in-the-Middle Attack: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jun '25

04 Jun '25

'A new security threat called the browser-in-the-middle (BITM) attack has recently been uncovered, exposing users—especially those using Apple’s Safari browser—to potential exploits that could compromise their privacy and security. Reports from BleepingComputer and GBHackers highlight how attackers can take advantage of browser fullscreen features to trick users into revealing sensitive information. [...] A browser-in-the-middle attack is a phishing-like technique that leverages the browser’s fullscreen mode to impersonate legitimate websites or system dialogs. By forcing the browser to enter fullscreen mode, attackers can overlay fake login screens, pop-ups, or security warnings that look authentic but actually capture user input such as passwords, credit card numbers, or other personal data. Unlike traditional man-in-the-middle attacks that intercept communications, BITM attacks manipulate the user interface itself to create convincing illusions. Because fullscreen mode hides browser UI elements like the address bar or tabs, users may be unaware they are interacting with a fraudulent page. According to the reports, Safari’s fullscreen API is particularly vulnerable to BITM attacks. Attackers can use JavaScript to force fullscreen without user consent or notification and then display spoofed content that mimics trusted websites or system alerts. This makes Safari users a prime target, although the risk isn’t limited to this browser alone.' -- source: https://cyptd.com/beware-of-the-browser-in-the-middle-attack-what-it-is-and… Cheers, Peter

1 0

OpenSnitch: The Must-Have Application Firewall for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '25

29 May '25

'When it comes to protecting your Linux system from unwanted network connections, having a good firewall is essential. While most Linux users rely on traditional firewalls like iptables, firewalls, or ufw, these usually work at the network level and don’t give detailed control over which applications can connect to the internet. This is where OpenSnitch comes in, a GNU/Linux application firewall designed to give you control over your outgoing connections on a per-application basis. In this article, we will explore what OpenSnitch is, how it helps secure your Linux machine, and guide you through simple installation and usage steps.' -- source: https://www.tecmint.com/opensnitch-linux-application-firewall/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Thousands of Asus routers are being hit with stealthy, persistent backdoors
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '25

29 May '25

'Thousands of home and small office routers manufactured by Asus are being infected with a stealthy backdoor that can survive reboots and firmware updates in an attack by a nation-state or another well-resourced threat actor, researchers said. The unknown attackers gain access to the devices by exploiting now-patched vulnerabilities, some of which have never been tracked through the internationally recognized CVE system. After gaining unauthorized administrative control of the devices, the threat actor installs a public encryption key for access to the device through SSH. From then on, anyone with the private key can automatically log in to the device with administrative system rights.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/thousands-of-asus-routers-are-bein… Cheers, Peter

1 0

SUSE Is Giving YaST the Dodo Bird Treatment
by Peter Reutemann 26 May '25

26 May '25

'An important piece of Linux history is set to go the way of the passenger pigeon or dodo bird later this year, when SUSE and openSUSE put YaST out to pasture. Widely regarded as a package manager, it’s actually more of a Swiss Army knife configuration tool that can be used to install software, configure hardware, set up networks and servers, and more. Exactly what it can do might be determined by the year in which you’re using it, as its feature set and role within the SUSE ecosystem have changed over the years. Although not very well known outside SUSE circles these days, from its first appearance in 1995 until SUSE was purchased by Novell in 2004, YaST was one of the reasons why SUSE was considered one of the crown jewels of Linux.' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/05/suse-is-giving-yast-the-dodo-bird-treatment/ When I was using SuSE back in the day, YaST was really great for newbies to do admin stuff Later on, I switched to webmin (https://github.com/webmin/webmin) as it was not restricted to a particular distro. Cheers, Peter

2 1

“Microsoft has simply given us no other option,” Signal says as it blocks Windows Recall
by Peter Reutemann 22 May '25

22 May '25

'Signal Messenger is warning the users of its Windows Desktop version that the privacy of their messages is under threat by Recall, the AI tool rolling out in Windows 11 that will screenshot, index, and store almost everything a user does every three seconds. Effective immediately, Signal for Windows will by default block the ability of Windows to screenshot the app. Signal users who want to disable the block—for instance to preserve a conversation for their records or make use of accessibility features for sight-impaired users—will have to change settings inside their desktop version to enable screenshots. [...] With no API for blocking Recall in the Windows Desktop version, Signal is instead invoking an API Microsoft provides for protecting copyrighted material. App developers can turn on the DRM setting to prevent Windows from taking screenshots of copyrighted content displayed in the app. Signal is now repurposing the API to add an extra layer of privacy.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/signal-resorts-to-weird-trick-to-b… Who would have thought that DRM can be useful... :-) Cheers, Peter

1 0

Hackers Now Testing ‘ClickFix’ Attacks on Linux Systems
by Peter Reutemann 22 May '25

22 May '25

'Security researchers have recently uncovered a new type of cyberattack targeting Linux systems — a technique dubbed “ClickFix.” Originally known for its impact on Windows environments, ClickFix is now being adapted and tested by threat actors against Linux platforms, signaling an expansion in both scope and sophistication. ClickFix is a novel post-exploitation tactic that allows attackers to interact with graphical desktop environments through simulated clicks and UI manipulations. By abusing legitimate tools like xdotool, attackers can automate interactions with graphical interfaces — such as clicking confirmation dialogs, accepting permissions, or launching malicious scripts — even on hardened systems. This type of attack can bypass traditional security mechanisms by operating at the user interface level, making it especially dangerous in environments where users assume GUI-based interactions are secure.' -- source: https://cyptd.com/hackers-now-testing-clickfix-attacks-on-linux-systems/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Mobile Browsers That Stick Their Noses Into Your Business
by Peter Reutemann 22 May '25

22 May '25

'Some figures hit my desk this morning about mobile browsers and the data they collect that I found interesting enough to want to pass on. Some of this won’t surprise anybody, such as the fact that Chrome is the most data-hungry mobile browser app. What might come as a surprise to many, is that Chrome is the only browser that collects financial information, such as payment methods, card numbers, and bank account details. It also collects contacts from a phone’s address book. The figures came from Surfshark, the cybersecurity folks with an eponymous VPN, which took a look at the 10 browsers it identified as the most popular. Topping the list was Chrome, which presents a somewhat mind-boggling list of privacy intrusions that includes everything from contacts and financial information to data on location, browsing and search history, content — such as photos, videos, audio recordings, uploaded files, and other stuff — usage data, identifiers — device ID, user ID, or IP address — as well as even more data that’s not identified by the study.' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/05/mobile-browsers-that-stick-their-noses-into-y… One thing that I wasn't aware of under Android, you will have a unique Ad ID: Settings > Privacy > Ads > Opt out of ad personalization Cheers, Peter

1 0

KDE Is Getting a Native Virtual Machine Manager Called 'Karton'
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '25

21 May '25

'A new virtual machine manager called Karton is being developed specifically for the KDE Plasma desktop, aiming to offer a seamless, Qt-native alternative to GNOME-centric tools like GNOME Boxes. Spearheaded by University of Waterloo student Derek Lin as part of Google Summer of Code 2025, Karton uses libvirt and Qt Quick to build a user-friendly, fully integrated VM experience, with features like a custom SPICE viewer, snapshot support, and a mobile-friendly UI expected by September 2025. Neowin reports: To feel right at home in KDE, Karton is being built with Qt Quick and Kirigami. It uses the libvirt API to handle virtual machines and could eventually work across different platforms. Right now, development is focused on getting the core parts in place. Lin is working on a new domain installer that ditches direct virt-install calls in favor of libosinfo, which helps detect OS images and generate the right libvirt XML for setting up virtual machines more precisely. He's still refining device configuration and working on broader hypervisor support. Another key part of the work is building a custom SPICE viewer using Qt Quick from scratch: If you're curious, here's the list of specific deliverables Lin included in his GSoC proposal, though he notes the proposal itself is a bit outdated [...]. For those interested in the timeline, Lin's GSoC proposal says the official GSoC coding starts June 2, 2025. The goal is to have a working app ready by the midterm evaluation around July 14, 2025, with the final submission due September 1, 2025. ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/20/2223215 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Microsoft Open Sources Windows Subsystem for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '25

20 May '25

'Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is now open source, Microsoft said Monday. The tool, which allows developers to run Linux distributions directly in Windows, is available for download, modification, and contribution. "We want Windows to be a great dev box," said Pavan Davuluri, corporate VP at Microsoft. "Having great WSL performance and capabilities" allows developers "to live in the Windows-native experience and take advantage of all they need in Linux." First launched in 2016 with an emulated Linux kernel, WSL switched to using the actual Linux kernel in 2019 with WSL 2, improving compatibility. The system has since gained support for GPUs, graphical applications, and systemd. Microsoft significantly refactored core Windows components to make WSL a standalone system before open sourcing it.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/05/19/1654225 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Final Bookworm-Based Raspberry Pi OS Released Ahead of Debian Trixie
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '25

20 May '25

'The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released a new version of Raspberry Pi OS, their recommended, freely distributed operating system for all Raspberry Pi devices. Still based on Debian 12 ”Bookworm,” this build is likely the last one in this series before Debian 13 “Trixie” arrives later this summer.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/final-bookworm-based-raspberry-pi-os-released-ahead-of… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Raspberry Pi Connect Goes Stable
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '25

19 May '25

'After just twelve months of public testing, Raspberry Pi Connect—the company’s browser-based remote-access service—officially graduated from beta with the release of version 2.5. According to Raspberry Pi engineer Chris Lowder, the platform’s install base has already topped 100,000 registered boards. Earlier iterations of the software relied on frequent polling: each Pi woke up at regular intervals to ask Raspberry Pi’s servers whether anyone wanted to connect. That design was easy on the cloud side—traffic remained predictable—but it quietly chewed through users’ data plans and power budgets. Version 2.5 replaces that pattern with a single, persistent HTTP connection. Now, when a user presses “Connect” in the web dashboard, the server broadcasts a wake-up event to the board, initiating the handshake on demand instead of on a schedule. Beyond wake-ups, every Connect client has been sending status heartbeats to keep the dashboard in sync. The new release debounces that chatter, dropping superfluous packets and compressing each remaining heartbeat by roughly 50 percent.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/raspberry-pi-connect-goes-stable/ Anyone got any experience with this that they'd like to share? Cheers, Peter

1 0

Spies hack high-value mail servers using an exploit from yesteryear
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '25

16 May '25

'Threat actors, likely supported by the Russian government, hacked multiple high-value mail servers around the world by exploiting XSS vulnerabilities, a class of bug that was among the most commonly exploited in decades past. XSS is short for cross-site scripting. Vulnerabilities result from programming errors found in webserver software that, when exploited, allow attackers to execute malicious code in the browsers of people visiting an affected website. XSS first got attention in 2005, with the creation of the Samy Worm, which knocked MySpace out of commission when it added more than one million MySpace friends to a user named Samy. XSS exploits abounded for the next decade and have gradually fizzled more recently, although this class of attacks continues now. On Thursday, security firm ESET reported that Sednit, a Kremlin-backed hacking group also tracked as APT28, Fancy Bear, Forest Blizzard, and Sofacy—gained access to high-value email accounts by exploiting XSS vulnerabilities in mail server software from four different makers. Those packages are: Roundcube, MDaemon, Horde, and Zimbra.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/spies-hack-high-value-mail-servers… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Google Restores File Permissions For Nexcloud
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '25

16 May '25

'Nextcloud has been in an ongoing battle with Google over the tech giant revoking the All Files permission from the Nextcloud Android App, which prevents users from managing their files on their server. After a blog post and several tech sites reported on the issue, "Google reached out to us [Nexcloud] and offered to restore the permission, which will give users back the functionality that was lost." Nextcloud is working on an app update and hopes to have it pushed out within a week.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/15/208221 Cheers, Peter

2 1

You Can Now Upgrade Ubuntu 24.10 to Ubuntu 25.04, Here’s How
by Peter Reutemann 15 May '25

15 May '25

'After almost a month of waiting, Ubuntu 24.10 (Oracular Oriole) users can finally upgrade their installations to the latest Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) release. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots on how to perform the upgrade! Ubuntu 24.10 was released on October 10th, 2024, and will be supported for a couple more months, until July 2025. Since this isn’t an LTS (Long Term Support) release, users might want to consider upgrading to Ubuntu 25.04 as soon as possible. Compared to Ubuntu 24.10, the Ubuntu 25.04 release ships with a newer kernel for better hardware support, namely Linux 6.14, the Mesa 25 graphics stack series for a better gaming experience, the latest GNOME 48 desktop environment, as well as some of the most recent GNU/Linux technologies.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/you-can-now-upgrade-ubuntu-24-10-to-ubuntu-25-04-here… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Introducing oniux: Kernel-level Tor isolation for any Linux app
by Peter Reutemann 15 May '25

15 May '25

'When launching privacy-critical apps and services, developers want to make sure that every packet really only goes through Tor. One mistyped proxy setting–or a single system-call outside the SOCKS wrapper–and your data is suddenly on the line. That's why today, we are excited to introduce oniux: a small command-line utility providing Tor network isolation for third-party applications using Linux namespaces. Built on Arti, and onionmasq, oniux drop-ships any Linux program into its own network namespace to route it through Tor and strips away the potential for data leaks. If your work, activism, or research demands rock-solid traffic isolation, oniux delivers it.' -- source: https://blog.torproject.org/introducing-oniux-tor-isolation-using-linux-nam… Cheers, Peter

1 0

European Vulnerability Database (EUVD)
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '25

14 May '25

Talking about vulnerabilities... 'The European Vulnerability Database (EUVD) is now fully operational, offering a streamlined platform to monitor critical and actively exploited security flaws amid the US struggles with budget cuts, delayed disclosures, and confusion around the future of its own tracking systems https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/' -- source: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/114501509209870711 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Multiple Security Issues in Screen (mostly affecting release 5.0.0 and setuid-root installations)
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '25

14 May '25

'In July 2024, the upstream Screen maintainer asked us [2] if we could have a look at the current Screen code base. We treated this request with lower priority, since we already had a cursory look at Screen a few years earlier, without finding any problems. When we actually found time to look into it again, we were surprised to find a local root exploit in the Screen 5.0.0 major version update affecting distributions that ship it as setuid-root (Arch Linux and NetBSD). We also found a number of additional, less severe issues that partly also affect older Screen versions still found in the majority of distributions.' -- source: https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/12/1 Cheers, Peter

1 0

FreeBSD Wants to Know a Few Things
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '25

14 May '25

'The FreeBSD Core Team and the FreeBSD Foundation have a few questions it would like to ask its users. What this means is that it’s survey time at FreeBSD… again. In other words, 2024’s user survey turns out not to have been the one-off we thought it was, and the FreeBSD Community Survey is looking like it’s going to become an annual event. This year’s survey was announced on Friday will run through May 7. Taking it won’t take much time — 15 minutes the organization says on its website — and the information gleaned from the results will be key for keeping the project on track. The foundation says that last year’s survey was used to help it determine the project’s priorities — which can change from year to year — as well as a guide for its development efforts and community engagement strategies for the upcoming year and beyond. The surveys are helpful for identifying user needs, assessing satisfaction levels, and highlighting areas requiring improvement, such as hardware support, documentation, and contribution processes.' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/04/freebsd-wants-to-know-a-few-things/ Link to survey in the referenced article. Anybody on the mailing list using a BSD variant currently? Cheers, Peter

1 0

Redis returns to open source with AGPLv3 license but not everyone is happy
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '25

14 May '25

'Over the last few years, companies like Redis, Elastic, MongoDB, and HashiCorp have abandoned their open-source license roots and switched to proprietary models. However, there is one significant problem with this attempt to squeeze more money from their formerly open-source programs: it doesn't work. Redis, the widely used in-memory key-value database, appears to have figured this out. Last year, Redis dumped its three-clause Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license and replaced it with the read-only Redis Source Available License (RSALv2) and Server Side Public License (SSPLv1). Now, Redis has officially returned to an open-source license, announcing that Redis 8 will be available under the open-source GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPLv3). Last year's change was intended to prevent large cloud providers from offering Redis as a managed service without contributing to the project, a challenge many open-source companies face in the cloud era. However, the move ticked off developers. The result was a fork, Valkey, backed by the Linux Foundation and major cloud vendors. Valkey has proven to be very popular. Indeed, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Ericsson, and Oracle have all adopted Valkey. [...] The new AGPLv3 option, effective with the recently released Redis 8, represents a significant shift. AGPLv3 is an Open Source Initiative (OSI)-approved, copyleft license that requires any modifications or derivative works to be released under the same terms, and crucially, mandates that source code be made available to users who interact with the software over a network. This network clause is meant to close the so-called "Software as a Service (SaaS) loophole," ensuring that cloud providers who offer Redis as a service must either open-source their changes or negotiate a commercial license with Redis Inc.' -- source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/redis-returns-to-open-source-with-agplv3-lice… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Nextcloud Cries Foul Over Google Play Store App Rejection
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '25

14 May '25

'Nextcloud has accused Google of sabotaging its Android Files app by revoking the "All files access" permission, which the company says cripples functionality for its 824,000 users and forces reliance on limited alternatives like SAF and MediaStore. The Register reports: Nextcloud's Android Files app is a file synchronization tool that, according to the company, has long had permission to read and write all file types. "Nextcloud has had this feature since its inception in 2016," it said, "and we never heard about any security concerns from Google about it." That changed in 2024, when someone or something at Google's Play Store decided to revoke the permission, effectively crippling the application. Nextcloud was instructed to use "a more privacy-aware replacement." According to Nextcloud, "SAF cannot be used, as it is for sharing/exposing our files to other apps ... MediaStore API cannot be used as it does not allow access to other files, but only media files." Attempts to raise the issue with Google resulted in little more than copy-and-pasted sections of the developer guide. "Despite multiple appeals from our side and sharing additional background, Google is not considering reinstating upload for all files," Nextcloud said. The issue seems to stem from the Play Store. While a fully functional version is available on F-Droid, the Play Store edition is subject to Google's imposed limitations. Regarding the All files access permission, Google's developer documentation states: "If you target Android 11 and declare All files access, it can affect your ability to publish and update your app on Google Play." Nextcloud is clearly aggrieved by the change, as are its users. "This might look like a small technical detail but it is clearly part of a pattern of actions to fight the competition," it said. "What we are experiencing is a piece of the script from the big tech playbook." [...] Are there nefarious actors at play here, an automated process that auto-rejects apps with elevated access requirements, or is it just simple incompetence? "Either way," Nextcloud said, "it results in companies like ours just giving up, reducing functionality just to avoid getting kicked out of their app store." "The issue is that small companies -- like ours -- have pretty much no recourse," it added. Nextcloud went on to criticize oversight processes as slow-moving, with fines that sound hefty but amount to little more than a slap on the wrist. "Big Tech is scared that small players like Nextcloud will disrupt them, like they once disrupted other companies. So they try to shut the door."' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/13/2045258 Cheers, Peter

1 0