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Why would anything have to change about this article? The developer wasn't accused of spamming or malware. You seem to be saying that if an app fails any Google

Why would anything have to change about this article? The developer wasn't accused of spamming or malware. You seem to be saying that if an app fails any Google policy, then that is the same as if it was spamming or malware?

dwohnitmok 5y ago
My point is that if the developer is given an answer of "spamming/malware" it's not much more useful than "not compliant with Google Play policies" ("spamming" alone is useful, you can check whether messages are being sent, "malware" is just far too broad). To check whether "spamming/malware" is more informative than "not compliant with Google Play policies" you can just plug it into the OP and see if any of the behavior would be different, but I can't see anything that would look different, which suggests "spamming/malware" is not really any more specific than "not compliant with Google Play policies" from the viewpoint of a developer saddled with that message. And because it's so vague, even if a developer were not to get that message (e.g. as in this case) it still doesn't narrow down much in the negative direction either.
- jevoten 5y ago
  You misunderstand me. I'm trying to say that not every Google Play policy is something malware or spam is interested in violating. Let me give a hypothetical example: Suppose there are color contrast requirements, to make buttons easy to distinguish. If your app is too desaturated, and buttons are hard to make out, the reviewer can tell you that you must make your app more colorful, and that information won't help malware or spammers one bit. Or for a non-hypothetical example: How does it help spammers or malware to know that their app mustn't contain "free" in the title? Or suppose they institute a policy where you're not allowed to re-implement functionality provided by the Google Play store (Google worked hard for that lock-in!), or make apps that are substitutes for ones provided by Android itself, or apps that break DRM.. how would being told you've violated one of these policies, help malware writers and spammers?
  - dwohnitmok 5y ago
    Ah I see what you mean. Yes that makes sense.

dwohnitmok 5y ago

My point is that if the developer is given an answer of "spamming/malware" it's not much more useful than "not compliant with Google Play policies" ("spamming" alone is useful, you can check whether messages are being sent, "malware" is just far too broad). To check whether "spamming/malware" is more informative than "not compliant with Google Play policies" you can just plug it into the OP and see if any of the behavior would be different, but I can't see anything that would look different, which suggests "spamming/malware" is not really any more specific than "not compliant with Google Play policies" from the viewpoint of a developer saddled with that message. And because it's so vague, even if a developer were not to get that message (e.g. as in this case) it still doesn't narrow down much in the negative direction either.

jevoten 5y ago
You misunderstand me. I'm trying to say that not every Google Play policy is something malware or spam is interested in violating. Let me give a hypothetical example: Suppose there are color contrast requirements, to make buttons easy to distinguish. If your app is too desaturated, and buttons are hard to make out, the reviewer can tell you that you must make your app more colorful, and that information won't help malware or spammers one bit. Or for a non-hypothetical example: How does it help spammers or malware to know that their app mustn't contain "free" in the title? Or suppose they institute a policy where you're not allowed to re-implement functionality provided by the Google Play store (Google worked hard for that lock-in!), or make apps that are substitutes for ones provided by Android itself, or apps that break DRM.. how would being told you've violated one of these policies, help malware writers and spammers?
- dwohnitmok 5y ago
  Ah I see what you mean. Yes that makes sense.