Google’s harsh licensing conditions raise concerns for Rostelecom in connection with its work on the Aurora home mobile operating system, writes Kommersant.
According to the sources of the publication, one of the discussions (where representatives of Yandex, Astra Group and Sbera were present) had to touch on the problem of legal risks of development based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). This version does not include the GMS system platform.
“By downloading the AOSP code, the client signs a license agreement, which stipulates legal obligations, including restrictions on export from the United States,” says the publication’s source.
It is difficult to find application developers for Aurora in Russia, market participants note. In addition, the projects do not have a system platform.
The information that at one of the meetings the question of the legality of using AOSP was raised was confirmed by a Kommersant source at the Ministry of Digital Development.
Rostelecom owns Open Mobile Platform LLC, the developer of Aurora. The company confirmed that in order to resolve legal issues, it was necessary to seek the opinion of an American law firm on the risks of “creating Russian Android and applications for it.” The fears were confirmed, he noted in Rostelecom.
Sberbank, whose representatives are participating in the discussion, considers it more expedient to create a home Android based on the AOSP open source code.
The Ministry of Digital Development, for its part, reported that it is currently working on several scenarios, but there is still no final decision.
Previously, the agency planned to allocate funds for the development of mobile services specifically for Aurora. But the funding was reviewed, the ministry excluded the allocation of 22 billion rubles from its digital transformation program.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB

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