Google's software mistreats or harms the user
Almost all of this is heavily exaggerated, presenting relatively innocuous features as if they were harmful, or calling out simple bugs as if they were intentional and actively malicious. None of it is flat-out wrong per-se (at least as far as I can tell), and I can certainly see where GNU is coming from, but I think for the average user most of the features they're criticizing actually do a lot more good than harm.<p>Just a few examples, to demonstrate my point:<p>- They describe Google's demonstrated ability to remove malware from user's devices as a "backdoor"<p>- They describe parental controls as "censorship"<p>- They consider the fact that Android supports DRM "malware"<p>- They cite the fact that Android malware exists as a security flaw. (Ignoring the fact that there is basically no OS in existence that <i>can't</i> be infected with malware.)<p>- They consider the ability for users to remotely reset their Android lockscreen combo if they know their Google account password a "back door"<p>- They describe a bug where Google Assistant incorrectly identified the "Okay Google" hotword as "Google Assistant recording users' conversations"<p>- They describe the fact that a Google message app doesn't delete conversations until the user asks it to as "surveillance"<p>Again, I'm not saying this point of view is necessarily wrong. From a certain point of view, all of the claims I described above are actually quite logical. (I even find myself agreeing with some of them.) But from the perspective of the average user, the vast majority of this stuff simply isn't worth worrying about, and I think it's a little extreme to characterize it as "malware". Just something to keep in mind.