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This is awful and I feel terrible for them, but a lot of alarm bells went off when I read this: I then attempted to login to my ‘Google Developer Account’
by zmmmmm 8y ago
This is awful and I feel terrible for them, but a lot of alarm bells went off when I read this:
I then attempted to login to my ‘Google Developer Account’ for
the first time. Previous to this our app developers were the
only ones to access our account to upload and update our app for us
It sounds like they violated probably one of the first requirements of the ToS not to share account credentials. From there ... really anything goes as to what that developer could have done with those credentials intentionally or otherwise.
Google definitely needs to up their game here. Lifetime bans that are completely irrevocable are a completely unacceptable system for the #2 or #1 app distribution platform in the world. Such a ban should be a last resort after many, many transgressions and a result of extensive manual review, not handed out on an automatic basis. Nonetheless, developers need to do their part and also read and take serious the ToS of the developer agreements too.
- on_and_off 8y agoI have a hard time empathizing with people unwilling to read the ToS. It contains hard rules regulating what you can do with your app, not just with respect to Google, but also with your consumers.
- linkmotif 8y agoIf you can’t read the ToS you are not qualified to participate in society at the level required to distribute software for people to use. There are other tests, but this is one of them.
- BEEdwards 8y ago"From there ... really anything goes as to what that developer could have done with those credentials intentionally or otherwise." They paid them to make the app though, they could put literally anything in there and even with them sending them builds that they uploaded themselves it would have been just as easy to be nefarious so this justification is thin at best. Are there shared accounts in the google app scene or is giving your credentials to the developer the only way to give them access?
- mevile 8y agoYou can share account access with other accounts. There is a Users & Permissions panel in the Google Play Console you can use to invite new members. There's no need to share your password with other people.
- megous 8y ago> They paid them to make the app though, they could put literally anything in there... Unless Google found something concrete, this speculation doesn't matter at all, shared account or not. A lot of software/websites/services are developed and managed on behalf of other businesses/people, with those people just trusting the developers/admins with no way to verify anything really.
- Twirrim 8y agoIt has been a while since I lived in the UK, and paid close attention to IT legilsation. At one stage it was considered illegal under the Data Protection Act (1998) to share credentials to an account, due to the lax control it offers over potential access to personal information. In this case, I would imagine the Google Developer Account would presumably give them access to some level of information about the customers of their application.
- hutzlibu 8y ago"Such a ban should be a last resort after many, many transgressions and a result of extensive manual review, not handed out on an automatic basis." Surely not, but that's what happens if you manage millions of apps and developers with minimum human labour. But even if they would increase human labour ... I guess it is really hard to look into all the cases, because what do you do with (smart) malicious actors, trying to circumvent bans?
- j16sdiz 8y agoHad work with malware author before. Don't think it is possible to manual review those ban due to the massive scale of malware industry.