Google’s ‘Good Deed’ for Sanctioned Developers Is Actually a Betrayal of the Open Internet
Google’s plan to exempt sanctioned nations from Android developer verification looks like a humanitarian move, but it’s actually a dangerous normalization of digital borders. By creating two tiers of developers—verified and unverified—based on passport, not trust, the company is admitting that the open internet is dead. The real story is about tech companies becoming enforcers of state policy, carving the web into compliance zones.