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Apple Rejects Academic App That Detects Net Neutrality Violations
- wand3r 9y agoApple has come to the forefront as defenders of users privacy, net neutrality and generally having a fairly laissez faire attitude towards the app store (at least as far as games, IAPs, and questionable apps) so this is going to raise questions. If they seem to block more researchers apps this, for me, will requirs sufficient explanation. With the few facts already public I am already pretty disappointed in their handling of this
- votepaunchy 9y ago> Recall that shaping is implemented by looking at the contents of your network traffic to see if it belongs to a given application. We can exploit this observation to “turn off” shaping as follows: we simply send the same traffic, but replace the original contents with random strings. Is this accurate? My understanding was that T-Mobile and others throttle based on the source network since most streams are encrypted, preventing content analysis (which would also require significantly higher processing).
- wmf 9y agoYeah, there are a bunch of different kinds of net neutrality violations and this app only tries to detect some of them. DPI seems increasingly pointless from the ISP's perspective now that everything is encrypted, so detecting DPI is fighting the last war.
- snowwrestler 9y agoThere are many reasons that network speed can vary from request to request on a mobile device, right? Detecting some differences, applying statistical tests and then definitively calling it a "net neutrality violation" does not seem to me to be particularly reliable. So if Apple's point of view is something like "making this available to unsophisticated users will create a lot of drama, much of it probably unjustified," then I have to admit I'm sympathetic. Net neutrality is a emotionally charged issue right now, and I'd suggest that proponents are best served by being very confident that the abuses they report are actually abuses. On top of that, wireless networks were are least partially exempted from the Title II rule anyway, so even if it were still in force, iPhone carriers would still not be subject to all its rules.
- natch 9y ago1) Apple rejected an app that sounds like it does a good thing. 2) Developer has made up an interpretation to explain Apple’s supposed real, unstated, reasons for rejection, substituting it for the reasons Apple itself explained. 3) Since the app had a good reason for existing, developer’s made up theory must be the only possible correct interpretation. 4) QED Anyone else see a flaw in this logic? I agree that from the few and highly spun facts we have been given, it seems like Apple could do a better job here communicating back and forth and clarifying the potential issues. But to attribute the rejection to the presence of the words “net neutrality” seems a bit whacky.
- craftyguy 9y agoWell, apple did supposedly say it was 'not appropriate.' So what do you think apple would consider to be 'not appropriate'? I'd guess things like extreme violence, nudity, promotion of racism.
- natch 9y agoI don’t know (how could I?) but I think the range of possibilities is wider than what you’ve mentioned. Perhaps it’s related to what they were quoted as saying, a problem with a discrepancy between the possible perceived reliability of the information and its actual reliability. I repeat, perhaps. I don’t know.
- jjeaff 9y agoFrom the scant details provided, it looks to me that tgis could be out of context: "iOS operating system doesn't provide access to specific private APIs or other hardware that may affect the results." My guess is he is trying to access non public apis.
- mankash666 9y agoThis response is a much worse spin than that allegedly purported by the app author. So an app potentially flags net neutrality violations, why the fuck does Apple care? What's the exact app store rule that forbids random, inaccurate judgements? I've argued this multiple times, but HN seems to not understand Apple's dominance in the app market. If your app isn't on the Apple app store, and your business model depends on payments (not advertising), then you're irrelevant in Western Europe, US and far East Asia. In the market segment that pays for apps & software, Apple is the dominant channel. In most other industries, such a pole position would qualify as a monopoly, but Apple is great at deflecting scrutiny, or the regulators are in their pockets. In either case, their BS app approval process is horrible for the industry, including the end consumers. In the history of general purpose computing, never ever has a company sold hardware to the customer transferring ownership rights to the customer, and then locked the device up to apps approved by the hardware manufacturer, going as far as taking a 30% cut. How this is flying past regulators is anyone's guess, and as more time progresses, people will begin to think that running apps on hardware they own is a privilege, not a right. Ludicrous!!
- kgdinesh 9y agoDoes anyone have the link to the research paper behind this app?