Photo: Alexander Kazakov, Kommersant
According to “Kommersant”, the development of the Russian national mobile operating system “Aurora” has caused new controversy. Rostelecom said that it is dangerous to create an OS based on Android due to Google’s harsh licensing conditions.
At one of the latest discussions of the national mobile operating system project, where representatives of Sberbank, Yandex, Rostelecom and Astra Group were present, they raised the issue of the legal risks of developing a mobile OS based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). This is a conditionally open version that does not include the GMS system platform.
“When downloading the AOSP code, the client signs a license agreement, which stipulates legal obligations, including export restrictions from the United States,” says the source of Kommersant.
“The legality of using AOSP,” according to this person, is of most concern to Rostelecom, which owns Open Mobile Platform LLC, which creates the Aurora OS. “We ordered an opinion from an American law firm on the legal risks of creating Russian Android and applications for it – there are indeed risks,” Rostelecom confirmed.
Sberbank confirmed its participation in the discussion of the project of the Russian OS based on the open version of Android: “We believe that the most optimal solution would be to create a Russian Android based on the open source AOSP. The industry, together with ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika, is discussing and working on various options, but no specific solutions have been presented yet.”
In addition, market participants confirmed that there are almost no application developers in Russia for Aurora.
