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Comment by egorfine | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.”

Did the US government not give endorsement?

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.

The restrictions are initially limited to those countries.

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?

FEBRABAN is an association that represents the banks at the federal level, but it's not a government entity.

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.)

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?

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

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.

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)?

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.

What an excellent reason to not mobilize on this issue...

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

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.

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?

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