[curtisnewton]

> Then i guess you can't publish apps?

I want to distribute apps (someone might also want to simply sell them), not publish them

I don't need a publisher, internet is a publishing media already

> you don't have the right to publish to the android platform

then let me install an alternative OS on the HW i legally bought and own or pay me back.

> the harms caused by malware and malicious actors

life is full of people doing harms and malicious actors, but we don't let Google or any other company gatekeep our lives

[notepad0x90]

> life is full of people doing harms and malicious actors, but we don't let Google or any other company gatekeep our lives

Yeah, you're certainly not speaking for malware victims here. android is not your life, so google gatekeeping android (actually only google approved builds) is not gatekeeping your life.

You certainly should be able to load an alternative OS. isn't that what lineage and other android distributions do already?

[monegator]

Not when google lobbies your government and banks to require "play integrity" in order to use government apps and bank apps

Not device integrity (locked bootloader, signed image, which can be done with alternative OS) but "play integrity" so approved by google. In other words, you can't run android without Google's services, google's builtin ads.

And the alternative is iOS.

[debazel]

Loading alternative OSes is not an option anymore because play store attestation is now mandatory to live a normal life in society.