The tech world’s been buzzing lately about Google’s latest move to charge developers for app verification outside the Play Store ecosystem. What started as a promise of openness and choice in the Android world is rapidly becoming another corporate cash grab, and frankly, it’s getting under my skin.

Google’s decision to implement a tiered verification system for Android developers feels like a betrayal of everything the platform once stood for. Sure, they’re keeping a “free” tier for hobbyists and students, but with undefined installation limits and heavy encouragement to upgrade to the paid tier. The paid verification will cost developers $25 - the same as Play Store registration - just for the privilege of distributing apps outside Google’s walled garden.

Scrolling through tech news this morning, I came across something that made me both hopeful and deeply frustrated at the same time. Google’s rolling out a new feature in Android 16 that can detect fake cell towers - those sneaky “stingray” devices that law enforcement and other actors use to intercept your phone communications. On one hand, it’s brilliant that our phones might finally warn us when we’re being spied on. On the other hand, the fact that we need this protection at all says everything about the surveillance state we’re living in.