Daily Archives: November 13, 2025

Amazon latest company to lock up their hardware: will stop you installing stuff on Fire TV Sticks (in the name of combating streaming) and force you to use their own app store

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Amazon is rolling out a tougher approach to combat illegal streaming, with the United States-based tech company aiming to block apps loaded onto all its Fire TV Stick devices that are identified as providing pirated content.

[…]

Amazon launched a new Fire TV Stick last month — the 4K Select, which is plugged into a TV to facilitate streaming via the internet — that it insists will be less of a breeding ground for piracy. It comprises enhanced security measures — via a new Vega operating system — and only apps available in Amazon’s app store will be available for customers to download.

[…]

Amazon insists the clampdown will apply to the new and old devices, but registered developers will still be able to use Fire Sticks for legitimate purposes.

[…]

The roll-out has started in Germany and France and will be expanded globally in the coming weeks and months.
Over the summer, The Athletic learned that Amazon had sporadically started blocking apps suspected of being linked to illegal sports streaming.
[…]
Gareth Sutcliffe is a leading tech researcher from Enders Analysis, who speaks on a range of topics in the episode, including the role of the Fire TV Stick device. He says that the previous — and still widely used — device made by Amazon “enables piracy” and that it’s “a broadly risky device for consumer safety”.
Sutcliffe says it “provides a very easy path for malware to enter into a home-computing environment”, there were “policies around developing apps for that device that Amazon took a certain position on and broadly got wrong” as they had made “an open computing device” that was a playground for “a whole world of nefarious actors”.
[…]

Source: Amazon steps up attempts to block illegal sports streaming via Fire TV Sticks – The Athletic

So yes, some apps are illegal, but plenty are legal. And they won’t work either. The “security” angle is just like Google’s move to stop people from installing (sideloading) software on Android. PCs allow you to do this and this generally goes right. It is about control, knowing what apps people install and above all: revenue. Mr Sutcliffe is firmly in the pay of these people and by saying that making an open computing device is wrong, he clearly shows this.

“This is a political deception” − Denmark gives New Chat Control another shot. Mass surveillance for all from behind closed doors.

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It’s official, a revised version of the CSAM scanning proposal is back on the EU lawmakers’ table − and is keeping privacy experts worried.

The Law Enforcement Working Party met again this morning (November 12) in the EU Council to discuss what’s been deemed by critics the Chat Control bill.

This follows a meeting the group held on November 5, and comes as the Denmark Presidency put forward a new compromise after withdrawing mandatory chat scanning.

As reported by Netzpolitik, the latest Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) proposal was received with broad support during the November 5 meeting, “without any dissenting votes” nor further changes needed.

The new text, which removes all provisions on detection obligations included in the bill and makes CSAM scanning voluntary, seems to be the winning path to finally find an agreement after over three years of trying.

Privacy experts and technologists aren’t quite on board, though, with long-standing Chat Control critic and digital rights jurist, Patrick Breyer, deeming the proposal “a political deception of the highest order.”

Chat Control − what’s changing and what are the risk

As per the latest version of the text, messaging service providers won’t be forced to scan all URLs, pictures, and videos shared by users, but rather choose to perform voluntary CSAM scanning.

There’s a catch, though. Article 4 will include a possible “mitigation measure” that could be applied to high-risk services to require them to take “all appropriate risk mitigation measures.”

According to Breyer, such a loophole could make the removal of detection obligations “worthless” by negating their voluntary nature. He said: “Even client-side scanning (CSS) on our smartphones could soon become mandatory – the end of secure encryption.”

Breaking encryption, the tech that security software like the best VPNs, Signal, and WhatsApp use to secure our private communications, has been the strongest argument against the proposal so far.

Breyer also warns that the new compromise goes further than the discarded proposal, passing from AI-powered monitoring targeting shared multimedia to the scanning of private chat texts and metadata, too.

“The public is being played for fools,” warns Breyer. “Following loud public protests, several member states, including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Austria, said ‘No’ to indiscriminate Chat Control. Now it’s coming back through the back door.”

Breyer is far from being the only one expressing concerns. German-based encrypted email provider, Tuta, is also raising the alarm.

“Hummelgaard doesn’t understand that no means no,” the provider writes on X.

To understand the next steps, we now need to wait and see what the outcomes from today’s meeting look like.

Source: “This is a political deception” − New Chat Control convinces lawmakers, but not privacy experts yet | TechRadar

Google is may be easing up on Android’s new installation restrictions

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Back in late August, Google announced a major change to Android that angered many enthusiasts and independent developers. Starting next year, Android will block users from installing apps made by unverified developers. The announcement spurred backlash from power users who felt that the new restrictions would effectively kill sideloading. Today, Google announced a major concession to appease these users. The company says it is building a new “advanced flow” that will allow “experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified.”

An easier way to install unverified apps…hopefully

In a blog post, Google says this new advanced flow is intended for developers and power users who “have a higher risk tolerance and want the ability to download unverified apps.” The company says it is “designing this flow specifically to resist coercion” to ensure that “users aren’t tricked into bypassing these safety checks while under pressure from scammer.” The flow will include “clear warnings” to ensure that users “fully understand the risks involved” with installing apps made by unverified developers, but ultimately, it puts the choice to do so in the user’s hands. Google says it is currently gathering early feedback on the design of this feature and will share more details in the coming months.

Although Google hasn’t shared what this new flow will actually look like, it’ll hopefully be easier than using ADB to install apps. Prior to this announcement, the only method we knew would allow you to install apps from unverified developers was to use ADB, which is simple but tedious for experienced users. Tools like Shizuku would have made ADB app installation possible without the use of a PC, but who knows how long such methods would last. Thus, I’m glad that users won’t have to resort to such hacky methods to install the software of their choice.

Source: Google is easing up on Android’s new sideloading restrictions