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There's nothing stopping Apple (or any other app store vendor) from creating a middle ground, by requiring third parties to agree in advance to a strong set of

There's nothing stopping Apple (or any other app store vendor) from creating a middle ground, by requiring third parties to agree in advance to a strong set of data-handling and privacy rules in order to sell apps in their store. They could even periodically audit those third-party products; failure to live up to the terms the third party agreed to when they published the app would be pretty solid grounds for kicking them out of the store. That stuff would cut into the planet-size hoard of profit Apple makes off the app store, though, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

netsharc 7y ago
> requiring third parties to agree in advance to a strong set of data-handling and privacy rules Aka the Facebook model.. tldr: "developer, click here to promise to behave". Aka the "click here if you are 18 or older" model. Thanks Zuck, for giving us Cambridge Analytica. What a bunch of effing liars. "We promise we keep your data secure" is yet another meaningless statement...
RussianCow 7y ago
It would also be nearly impossible to enforce. How would Apple be able to verify that a company is complying with these terms? I don't think many companies would be happy to let Apple poke around in their backend, just as I don't think Apple wants to spend the resources to do that. Edit: "impossible" -> "nearly impossible"
- colechristensen 7y ago
  Write in compliance requirements with provisions for regular third party audits. If personal data companies don’t start regulating themselves they will get it forced on them by the government. Financial, medical, and defense companies already do it.
atonse 7y ago
Sure there is. There are dozens of times when app developers say "oops" during a data sharing leak, either because they want to fake not having known that they were sharing data, or (probably more likely) they were using an SDK that itself was leaking tons of data that they didn't know they were signing up for. Apple closes loopholes, the press cries about App Store dominance, app developers cry out, new rules are put in, and then they circumvent those rules. Rinse and repeat.

netsharc 7y ago

> requiring third parties to agree in advance to a strong set of data-handling and privacy rules Aka the Facebook model.. tldr: "developer, click here to promise to behave". Aka the "click here if you are 18 or older" model. Thanks Zuck, for giving us Cambridge Analytica. What a bunch of effing liars. "We promise we keep your data secure" is yet another meaningless statement...

RussianCow 7y ago

It would also be nearly impossible to enforce. How would Apple be able to verify that a company is complying with these terms? I don't think many companies would be happy to let Apple poke around in their backend, just as I don't think Apple wants to spend the resources to do that. Edit: "impossible" -> "nearly impossible"

colechristensen 7y ago
Write in compliance requirements with provisions for regular third party audits. If personal data companies don’t start regulating themselves they will get it forced on them by the government. Financial, medical, and defense companies already do it.

atonse 7y ago

Sure there is. There are dozens of times when app developers say "oops" during a data sharing leak, either because they want to fake not having known that they were sharing data, or (probably more likely) they were using an SDK that itself was leaking tons of data that they didn't know they were signing up for. Apple closes loopholes, the press cries about App Store dominance, app developers cry out, new rules are put in, and then they circumvent those rules. Rinse and repeat.