10 ms·

Apple's "benign dictatorship" of the App Store leaves users, devs in the dark.

123 points by tnash 14y ago

applelovesme 14y ago
I got sued once in a similar way, for an app a competitor claimed copied their UI and violated trade dress, copyright etc. Apple didn't pull our app though, and it seems so fraught that Apple is making legal judgments both ways. Our competitor sent a complaint to Apple, so we re-assured Apple, sued the complaining company, they counter-sued, and eventually settled. The suit cost about 20k and we made minor changes to the app UI as a result. Waste of time and money for everyone. Throwaway account and no other details because I'm under NDA.
- robterrell 14y ago
  I've posted here about my similar case before. I spent easily as much on lawyers fighting a frivolous copyright claim against my app, and after initially prevailing, the other guy simply moved jurisdictions and started over. This was two years ago, so things might have changed, but Apple was patient and did not pull my app while the legal process was in motion.
Karunamon 14y ago
That's the one thing that bugs me most about Apple. Not the kill switch, not the pricing, but the complete and total lack of objective transparency on the app store. Would it absoulutely kill them to come out with some hard and fast rules? It's not that difficult.
- d0mine 14y ago
  The more rules are public the less power Apple has. Why Would it voluntarily limit itself?
- induscreep 14y ago
  Isn't this the same thing? https://developer.apple.com/appstore/guidelines.html https://developer.apple.com/appstore/guidelines.html
  - jasonlotito 14y ago
    No. They are guidelines. You can break those guidelines and get in, or follow them and get denied. I've seen this firsthand.
- induscreep 14y ago
  Edit: here's a copy of the actual rules http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/files/app-store-guidelines.pdf http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/files/app-store-guide...
  - Karunamon 14y ago
    Those are guidelines, not rules, and they're rather ambiguous in many places.
    - kolinko 14y ago
      Guidelines, but Apple is really sticking with them. When they reject an app, they always give a reason. As for the ambiguity - there will always be some.
      - mikeash 14y ago
        In the recent Airfoil Speakers flap, they neither stuck to their rules nor gave a reason.
  - rst 14y ago
    "This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this."
- jseliger 14y ago
  This raises a subsidiary question for me: does anyone know of an Android phone that plays nicely with OS X syncing? When I looked into this a year or two ago, I didn't see anything that appeared to be good. One of the insanely useful things about the iPhone (at least to me) is that it syncs automatically with Address Book, iCal, Mail, iTunes, and iPhoto. To my knowledge, Android phones haven't done the same. Yet the increasing bogosity of Apple's policies make me wonder about the alternatives.
  - gtaylor 14y ago
    If you sync your MacOS machine to the equivalent Google services (Calendar, Mail, Contacts, Music, Photos), you can then sync your Android to the same things. This is what I do, and have been super happy with the arrangement. Though, you are trading one behemoth for another. You could, of course, substitute some of the pieces of this with your own, or other services without a hitch.
  - myko 14y ago
    AirSync (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doubleTwist.androidPlayerProKey&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doubleTwis...) does a great job of syncing iTunes. The rest I sync with Gmail (I don't use Mail.app - I find Gmail's web interface superior to any desktop client).
- kolinko 14y ago
  There is a whole document with hard & fast rules ("App Store Review Guidelines"). They introduced it a while ago.
AdrianRossouw 14y ago
not sure benign is the right word.. but sure.
Jtsummers 14y ago
I have never dealt with Apple and the app store, but I have a question for those who do. Many of the complaints regard transparency and frequency of communications. Is it a lack of communication on Apple's part? Do your attempts to initiate communication with them and get status updates or discuss issues fail? Or do you expect Apple to initiate all communications for you and they never do?
- duiker101 14y ago
  From my experience any attempt to contact phone support is totally useless and will not get you anythings. Email support will get instead only not nice responses. Usually if you contact Apple it's because you have problems, whatever the reson, missed payments, app rejections etc... you will get only closed doors from them. I might be drastic but i came to the conclusion that there is NOTHING in the Apple's "dictatorship" that is benign. I believe that their behaviour is because they are Apple. They don't need you. You need them. So or you stick with what they give you or you can leave. Personally I left. But sadly to make them care one person is not enough. Too many people are still "blind", or stuck with them and cannot leave.
  - Jtsummers 14y ago
    Followup questions then. Do they have a phone line you can use? When you contacted them were you friendly, terse, unfriendly? Just from my own dealings with other forms of customer service I've found that most people who find the support unpleasant, untimely, etc. are terse in their communication. This isn't the same as unfriendly, it's just blunt and overly concise. Support folks get so much communication they tend to take it much like being unfriendly and put them at the bottom of the queue. Sometimes, of course, the support staff are just unpleasant or slow or bogged down in bureaucracy.
    - ioquatix 14y ago
      I've called them, and they've called me several times relating to various different issues. They've always been very pleasant and happy to help.
soup10 14y ago
I'm still waiting for the lawsuit that forces apple to provide an option to install unreviewed apps. Nobody would tolerate this kind of total platform control in OS X or windows. Why is it tolerated in iOS? It's perfectly fine to have a a curated app store by default, it's not OK when it's the only option. Especially when your as big as Apple is.
- nik_0_0 14y ago
  When your what is as big as Apple is?
  - duiker101 14y ago
    it's obvious that he meant you are. Please, not everyone is a native English speaker and even if he was a typo can happen to anyone. There is no need to correct everybody. I think this is an enough mature community to understand that.
- girasquid 14y ago
  This already basically exists with the adhoc system. For $99/year, I can load up to 100 devices with anything I sign with my certificate, no app store required.
  - duiker101 14y ago
    No it's not the same. It's not even close to that. I am fine with the 99$/year, I am fine with the no appstore, I can find my methods, but limiting me to 100 devices it's whole another story.
    - girasquid 14y ago
      I'm told that if you ask nicely, you can get the limit bumped up to 200 or 300 devices - failing that, you could also get an enterprise license (which has no device restrictions).
  - guelo 14y ago
CubicleNinjas 14y ago
Can we end these articles please? They're link bait. Apple users are wildly happy according to surveys. The platform is still the strongest dev environment is Apple's history. The tradeoff is reduced control over your hardware and software. Not perfect, but concessions are made. The use of metaphors is always what rings false though. The 'crystal prison' or leaving users in the 'dark'. Users are given a touch device that talks to everyone on the planet, can download things for 100 pennies, and becomes more useful with time. User don't see this as a dark prison in any way.
- xtractinator 14y ago
  I keep seeing this argument pop-up. That we should just ignore Apple because it makes their users happy. Or "whining geeks have no affect on Apple and it's users, we should just stop paying attention to them" Obviously, that's wishful thinking. Computer experts will always pay attention to what most people are using and the markets that drive it, and other people who care what smart people think will continue to seek their opinion, because they are right. Not really interested in why this has become a standard tactic by some... but it's not gaining any ground, so you can just stop it.
  - CubicleNinjas 14y ago
    Where did I say ignore? I just asked to stop with the skewed metaphor. I respect people's wariness, but if they feel this way there are dozens of alternative options. Much better to promote them than to rag on what other people enjoy.
    - xtractinator 14y ago
      It's not just about having alternative options, or "hating that people enjoy Apple" about doing things an effective and efficient way. Being efficient is something we all care about because we're all on the same planet. Being locked into a certain vendor's way of doing things is a Bad Thing™, and definitely not efficient. We already learned this with Microsoft... I guess everyone has to learn the hard way that not caring about your tools, paying someone else to care, and then expecting them to "just work" is not a effective way to do anything.
jsz0 14y ago
As a user it doesn't leave me in the dark. I look at the store 'shelf' and select what I want. I'm about as interested in the behind the scenes of the App Store as I would be about how my local grocery store shelves are stocked. I'm sure it's fascinating I just don't care very much. If they don't have exactly the type of soup I am looking for I'll probably just get a slightly different type of soup. At worst maybe I would have to consider shopping at a different store instead. If they explained to me that they decided not to carry this brand of soup because sometimes the can explodes and shoots metal shards in your face I would I actually appreciate their choice to stop selling it. I don't need soup cans exploding in my face and I don't really have time to keep up with all the details of how soup cans are made, what the different types are, which types of cans are the most reliable/safe, etc. I'm fine with the grocery store handling that for me.
ajross 14y ago
One side of this story I can't figure out is how wildly bad Apple's PR has been. They refused to comment for this story. Seriously? I can understand how this happened (it's just an app, there's a plausible lawsuit, pull it). But once that little girls face went up... ? Apple is in no danger here. They can just say "On further review, the plaintiff's case is not as strong as we thought; we'll wait for the courts to decide and eagerly await their decision.". But there's nothing from them at all. They didn't put the app back up, they didn't issue a statement. They wouldn't even talk to Ars about this story. What's going on in there? This is a PR disaster. So... what would Steve have done?
- tptacek 14y ago
  He would have waited for the drama to mostly blow over, and then, if they made a decision to put a stake in the ground over the story, would have written a plain-English 3 paragraph letter published on their website about what Apple's strategy moving forward regarding the issue would be. Most of the time, though, Apple just doesn't get involved in stuff like this. What's in it for them? It's not actually a PR disaster for Apple; if anything, from a coldly calculated perspective, this is good PR for Apple.
  - cube13 14y ago
    >What's in it for them? It's not actually a PR disaster for Apple; if anything, from a coldly calculated perspective, this is good PR for Apple. That's pretty much it. There's basically nothing they could say or do that works out for them in either the long run or short run. If they leave it up after the C&D/DMCA/whatever complaint, they could be sued. If they make a statement that's remotely in support of PRC's case, the story suddenly isn't PRC vs. Speak for Yourself, it's Apple vs. a little girl. If they make a statement in support of Speak for Yourself, it's suddenly PRC vs. Apple. None of those outcomes are positive PR. While the third is a feel-good move, it doesn't actually do anything positive with the case. It's in Apple's best interest to just pull the app and stay silent until the courts decide the case.
    - ajross 14y ago
abruzzi 14y ago
I'm just curious, are there any instances of Apple Killing already purchased apps? I know I still have a 4 year old tethering app. I don't know if it even works on current versions, but I just haven't deleted it. I still have VLC for iOS. So it seems like the family's paranoia that apple will kill the already purchased app overblown.
- xtractinator 14y ago
  Yes, there was an app that had a back-door built into it so the app could be secretly used to jail-break the device it was running on. This was pulled from the market.
  - Jtsummers 14y ago
    Pulled from the market != killed. They've pulled many apps for various reasons, so far they haven't reached into user devices and removed/disabled apps.
- oth3r 14y ago
  I had an app called HandyLight that let you use 3G tethering without paying AT&T's extra monthly fee. When I upgraded to the iPhone 4S from the iPhone 4, the .ipa wouldn't install. Even when I tried to add it through iTunes, it would immediately delete itself.
josteink 14y ago
If Speak for Yourself had developed an app for Android they would have had none of these problems. None. Zilch. There are several markets. There are several stores. You can install standalone APKs if you like. The nature of the platform protects you from the likes of Apple. That there are options doesn't make Apple any more right here. I'm not saying that. But there are other platforms than Apple's closed circus. And people should consider them. With time I hope people will see that value in an open platform. That these people, those who have their daughter threatened to be re-muted by Apple, that they still insist on using Apple's hardware is a mystery to me. You would at least think that they saw why choosing Apple is fundamentally wrong for any person who considers himself free. If you're not free to do with your own property as you please, how much of a free being are you really?
- greedo 14y ago
  "Threatened to be re-muted?" Let's try to avoid the hyperbole. Apple doesn't uninstall applications from your iPad. "If you're not free to do with your own property as you please, how much of a free being are you really?" Freedom is an illusion. Name one piece of property you can use as you please without restriction?
  - joshAg 14y ago
    > Name one piece of property you can use as you please without restriction? That depends entirely on how large your private security force is and how willing you are to bribe certain officials.
    - greedo 14y ago
      Those two factors are essentially restrictions.
  - zem 14y ago
    sorry, you're missing a word there. you should be asking "name one piece of property you can use undetectably as you please without restriction", and the answer is "nearly all of them". what i do in the privacy of my own home, without affecting other people and with stuff i legally own should be unrestricted; pretty much every case in which it isn't involves a conceptual failing on the part of either the law, the entity i obtained that piece of property from, or both.
wendsday 14y ago
"Benign"? What would a malignant dictatorship be like?
da_n 14y ago
From my own experience, once you have purchased/downloaded an app you can install/re-install it on devices without any restriction, but you would be wise to keep a copy of the .ipa somewhere. I downloaded the VLC app on my iPhone before it was pulled and have since been able to install it onto an iPad I bought last month no problem. Obviously it won't be updated so the problem of future compatibility is still an issue.
zmmmmm 14y ago
It seems a bit weird that they are choosing to sell nothing and take on a giant PR campaign rather than simply port this to Android or any other tablet OS and get on with life. This is a very specialized app where anybody with an affected child will gladly buy a custom piece of hardware if necessary to get the job done. (Of course, they may still get a "real" legal injunction from selling it of some kind, but then at least they can stop complaining about their competitor back-dooring the justice system).

123 points by tnash 14y ago

I got sued once in a similar way, for an app a competitor claimed copied their UI and violated trade dress, copyright etc. Apple didn't pull our app though, and it seems so fraught that Apple is making legal judgments both ways. Our competitor sent a complaint to Apple, so we re-assured Apple, sued the complaining company, they counter-sued, and eventually settled. The suit cost about 20k and we made minor changes to the app UI as a result. Waste of time and money for everyone. Throwaway account and no other details because I'm under NDA.

robterrell 14y ago
I've posted here about my similar case before. I spent easily as much on lawyers fighting a frivolous copyright claim against my app, and after initially prevailing, the other guy simply moved jurisdictions and started over. This was two years ago, so things might have changed, but Apple was patient and did not pull my app while the legal process was in motion.

Karunamon 14y ago

That's the one thing that bugs me most about Apple. Not the kill switch, not the pricing, but the complete and total lack of objective transparency on the app store. Would it absoulutely kill them to come out with some hard and fast rules? It's not that difficult.

d0mine 14y ago
The more rules are public the less power Apple has. Why Would it voluntarily limit itself?
induscreep 14y ago
Isn't this the same thing? https://developer.apple.com/appstore/guidelines.html https://developer.apple.com/appstore/guidelines.html
- jasonlotito 14y ago
  No. They are guidelines. You can break those guidelines and get in, or follow them and get denied. I've seen this firsthand.
induscreep 14y ago
Edit: here's a copy of the actual rules http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/files/app-store-guidelines.pdf http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/files/app-store-guide...
- Karunamon 14y ago
  Those are guidelines, not rules, and they're rather ambiguous in many places.
  - kolinko 14y ago
    Guidelines, but Apple is really sticking with them. When they reject an app, they always give a reason. As for the ambiguity - there will always be some.
    - mikeash 14y ago
      In the recent Airfoil Speakers flap, they neither stuck to their rules nor gave a reason.
- rst 14y ago
  "This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this."
jseliger 14y ago
This raises a subsidiary question for me: does anyone know of an Android phone that plays nicely with OS X syncing? When I looked into this a year or two ago, I didn't see anything that appeared to be good. One of the insanely useful things about the iPhone (at least to me) is that it syncs automatically with Address Book, iCal, Mail, iTunes, and iPhoto. To my knowledge, Android phones haven't done the same. Yet the increasing bogosity of Apple's policies make me wonder about the alternatives.
- gtaylor 14y ago
  If you sync your MacOS machine to the equivalent Google services (Calendar, Mail, Contacts, Music, Photos), you can then sync your Android to the same things. This is what I do, and have been super happy with the arrangement. Though, you are trading one behemoth for another. You could, of course, substitute some of the pieces of this with your own, or other services without a hitch.
- myko 14y ago
  AirSync (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doubleTwist.androidPlayerProKey&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doubleTwis...) does a great job of syncing iTunes. The rest I sync with Gmail (I don't use Mail.app - I find Gmail's web interface superior to any desktop client).
kolinko 14y ago
There is a whole document with hard & fast rules ("App Store Review Guidelines"). They introduced it a while ago.

AdrianRossouw 14y ago

not sure benign is the right word.. but sure.

Jtsummers 14y ago

I have never dealt with Apple and the app store, but I have a question for those who do. Many of the complaints regard transparency and frequency of communications. Is it a lack of communication on Apple's part? Do your attempts to initiate communication with them and get status updates or discuss issues fail? Or do you expect Apple to initiate all communications for you and they never do?

duiker101 14y ago
From my experience any attempt to contact phone support is totally useless and will not get you anythings. Email support will get instead only not nice responses. Usually if you contact Apple it's because you have problems, whatever the reson, missed payments, app rejections etc... you will get only closed doors from them. I might be drastic but i came to the conclusion that there is NOTHING in the Apple's "dictatorship" that is benign. I believe that their behaviour is because they are Apple. They don't need you. You need them. So or you stick with what they give you or you can leave. Personally I left. But sadly to make them care one person is not enough. Too many people are still "blind", or stuck with them and cannot leave.
- Jtsummers 14y ago
  Followup questions then. Do they have a phone line you can use? When you contacted them were you friendly, terse, unfriendly? Just from my own dealings with other forms of customer service I've found that most people who find the support unpleasant, untimely, etc. are terse in their communication. This isn't the same as unfriendly, it's just blunt and overly concise. Support folks get so much communication they tend to take it much like being unfriendly and put them at the bottom of the queue. Sometimes, of course, the support staff are just unpleasant or slow or bogged down in bureaucracy.
  - ioquatix 14y ago
    I've called them, and they've called me several times relating to various different issues. They've always been very pleasant and happy to help.

soup10 14y ago

I'm still waiting for the lawsuit that forces apple to provide an option to install unreviewed apps. Nobody would tolerate this kind of total platform control in OS X or windows. Why is it tolerated in iOS? It's perfectly fine to have a a curated app store by default, it's not OK when it's the only option. Especially when your as big as Apple is.

nik_0_0 14y ago
When your what is as big as Apple is?
- duiker101 14y ago
  it's obvious that he meant you are. Please, not everyone is a native English speaker and even if he was a typo can happen to anyone. There is no need to correct everybody. I think this is an enough mature community to understand that.
girasquid 14y ago
This already basically exists with the adhoc system. For $99/year, I can load up to 100 devices with anything I sign with my certificate, no app store required.
- duiker101 14y ago
  No it's not the same. It's not even close to that. I am fine with the 99$/year, I am fine with the no appstore, I can find my methods, but limiting me to 100 devices it's whole another story.
  - girasquid 14y ago
    I'm told that if you ask nicely, you can get the limit bumped up to 200 or 300 devices - failing that, you could also get an enterprise license (which has no device restrictions).
- guelo 14y ago

CubicleNinjas 14y ago

Can we end these articles please? They're link bait. Apple users are wildly happy according to surveys. The platform is still the strongest dev environment is Apple's history. The tradeoff is reduced control over your hardware and software. Not perfect, but concessions are made. The use of metaphors is always what rings false though. The 'crystal prison' or leaving users in the 'dark'. Users are given a touch device that talks to everyone on the planet, can download things for 100 pennies, and becomes more useful with time. User don't see this as a dark prison in any way.

xtractinator 14y ago
I keep seeing this argument pop-up. That we should just ignore Apple because it makes their users happy. Or "whining geeks have no affect on Apple and it's users, we should just stop paying attention to them" Obviously, that's wishful thinking. Computer experts will always pay attention to what most people are using and the markets that drive it, and other people who care what smart people think will continue to seek their opinion, because they are right. Not really interested in why this has become a standard tactic by some... but it's not gaining any ground, so you can just stop it.
- CubicleNinjas 14y ago
  Where did I say ignore? I just asked to stop with the skewed metaphor. I respect people's wariness, but if they feel this way there are dozens of alternative options. Much better to promote them than to rag on what other people enjoy.
  - xtractinator 14y ago
    It's not just about having alternative options, or "hating that people enjoy Apple" about doing things an effective and efficient way. Being efficient is something we all care about because we're all on the same planet. Being locked into a certain vendor's way of doing things is a Bad Thing™, and definitely not efficient. We already learned this with Microsoft... I guess everyone has to learn the hard way that not caring about your tools, paying someone else to care, and then expecting them to "just work" is not a effective way to do anything.

jsz0 14y ago

As a user it doesn't leave me in the dark. I look at the store 'shelf' and select what I want. I'm about as interested in the behind the scenes of the App Store as I would be about how my local grocery store shelves are stocked. I'm sure it's fascinating I just don't care very much. If they don't have exactly the type of soup I am looking for I'll probably just get a slightly different type of soup. At worst maybe I would have to consider shopping at a different store instead. If they explained to me that they decided not to carry this brand of soup because sometimes the can explodes and shoots metal shards in your face I would I actually appreciate their choice to stop selling it. I don't need soup cans exploding in my face and I don't really have time to keep up with all the details of how soup cans are made, what the different types are, which types of cans are the most reliable/safe, etc. I'm fine with the grocery store handling that for me.

ajross 14y ago

One side of this story I can't figure out is how wildly bad Apple's PR has been. They refused to comment for this story. Seriously? I can understand how this happened (it's just an app, there's a plausible lawsuit, pull it). But once that little girls face went up... ? Apple is in no danger here. They can just say "On further review, the plaintiff's case is not as strong as we thought; we'll wait for the courts to decide and eagerly await their decision.". But there's nothing from them at all. They didn't put the app back up, they didn't issue a statement. They wouldn't even talk to Ars about this story. What's going on in there? This is a PR disaster. So... what would Steve have done?

tptacek 14y ago
He would have waited for the drama to mostly blow over, and then, if they made a decision to put a stake in the ground over the story, would have written a plain-English 3 paragraph letter published on their website about what Apple's strategy moving forward regarding the issue would be. Most of the time, though, Apple just doesn't get involved in stuff like this. What's in it for them? It's not actually a PR disaster for Apple; if anything, from a coldly calculated perspective, this is good PR for Apple.
- cube13 14y ago
  >What's in it for them? It's not actually a PR disaster for Apple; if anything, from a coldly calculated perspective, this is good PR for Apple. That's pretty much it. There's basically nothing they could say or do that works out for them in either the long run or short run. If they leave it up after the C&D/DMCA/whatever complaint, they could be sued. If they make a statement that's remotely in support of PRC's case, the story suddenly isn't PRC vs. Speak for Yourself, it's Apple vs. a little girl. If they make a statement in support of Speak for Yourself, it's suddenly PRC vs. Apple. None of those outcomes are positive PR. While the third is a feel-good move, it doesn't actually do anything positive with the case. It's in Apple's best interest to just pull the app and stay silent until the courts decide the case.
  - ajross 14y ago

abruzzi 14y ago

I'm just curious, are there any instances of Apple Killing already purchased apps? I know I still have a 4 year old tethering app. I don't know if it even works on current versions, but I just haven't deleted it. I still have VLC for iOS. So it seems like the family's paranoia that apple will kill the already purchased app overblown.

xtractinator 14y ago
Yes, there was an app that had a back-door built into it so the app could be secretly used to jail-break the device it was running on. This was pulled from the market.
- Jtsummers 14y ago
  Pulled from the market != killed. They've pulled many apps for various reasons, so far they haven't reached into user devices and removed/disabled apps.
oth3r 14y ago
I had an app called HandyLight that let you use 3G tethering without paying AT&T's extra monthly fee. When I upgraded to the iPhone 4S from the iPhone 4, the .ipa wouldn't install. Even when I tried to add it through iTunes, it would immediately delete itself.

josteink 14y ago

If Speak for Yourself had developed an app for Android they would have had none of these problems. None. Zilch. There are several markets. There are several stores. You can install standalone APKs if you like. The nature of the platform protects you from the likes of Apple. That there are options doesn't make Apple any more right here. I'm not saying that. But there are other platforms than Apple's closed circus. And people should consider them. With time I hope people will see that value in an open platform. That these people, those who have their daughter threatened to be re-muted by Apple, that they still insist on using Apple's hardware is a mystery to me. You would at least think that they saw why choosing Apple is fundamentally wrong for any person who considers himself free. If you're not free to do with your own property as you please, how much of a free being are you really?

greedo 14y ago
"Threatened to be re-muted?" Let's try to avoid the hyperbole. Apple doesn't uninstall applications from your iPad. "If you're not free to do with your own property as you please, how much of a free being are you really?" Freedom is an illusion. Name one piece of property you can use as you please without restriction?
- joshAg 14y ago
  > Name one piece of property you can use as you please without restriction? That depends entirely on how large your private security force is and how willing you are to bribe certain officials.
  - greedo 14y ago
    Those two factors are essentially restrictions.
- zem 14y ago
  sorry, you're missing a word there. you should be asking "name one piece of property you can use undetectably as you please without restriction", and the answer is "nearly all of them". what i do in the privacy of my own home, without affecting other people and with stuff i legally own should be unrestricted; pretty much every case in which it isn't involves a conceptual failing on the part of either the law, the entity i obtained that piece of property from, or both.

wendsday 14y ago

"Benign"? What would a malignant dictatorship be like?

da_n 14y ago

From my own experience, once you have purchased/downloaded an app you can install/re-install it on devices without any restriction, but you would be wise to keep a copy of the .ipa somewhere. I downloaded the VLC app on my iPhone before it was pulled and have since been able to install it onto an iPad I bought last month no problem. Obviously it won't be updated so the problem of future compatibility is still an issue.

zmmmmm 14y ago

It seems a bit weird that they are choosing to sell nothing and take on a giant PR campaign rather than simply port this to Android or any other tablet OS and get on with life. This is a very specialized app where anybody with an affected child will gladly buy a custom piece of hardware if necessary to get the job done. (Of course, they may still get a "real" legal injunction from selling it of some kind, but then at least they can stop complaining about their competitor back-dooring the justice system).