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Google Serves a Cease-and-Desist On Android Modder

Several readers sent in word that Google has served a Cease and Desist order to Cyanogen, one of the most prolific Android modders: his CyanogenMod is enjoyed by 30,000 users. The move is puzzling. Gizmodo wonders what Google's game is, and Lauren Weinstein calls the move "not of the high 'Googley' caliber" that one would expect of the company.

6 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Le Shocque! by Killer+Orca · · Score: 3, Funny

    Google a giant company, not your BFF.

    That's ok, I already have Facebook as my BFF.

  2. Re:License missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's only for trademarks. Copyright and patents doesn't require defending hence why you see patent trolls wait until a product is well-entrentched before they sue them for "damages."

    I can understand Google's viewpoint on this. Assuming Cyanogen wants to continue to distribute the programs, they can always just go through the proper channels first. Then they would have a stance if Google was being slow or rejected them. It's really an issue of google protecting themselves. They probably want to avoid legal hassles that involve 3rd party distributors (where the binaries could be modified without google's knowledge or infected with a virus unintentionally or other things).

  3. Re:License missing by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey, you spelled "Apple" wrong.

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"
  4. Re:License missing by cptdondo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can't RTFM right now - slashdotted - but the TOS for using Google Maps for example is very explicit and very limited. (You can only use Google Maps from within browser, and you cannot cache the images.) Google doesn't necessarily own the data; they have licensing agreements with data providers. So Google has to uphold its agreement with the data providers.

    While I personally have abandonded using Google Maps for my project because of the license - something I find frustrating and disappointing - it is, after all, the agreeement Google must live by and enforce.

  5. Re:License missing by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The word you're looking for is Panaphonics.

  6. Re:GPL Violation? by lgw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, wait. Do monkeys live for 1000 years?

    Hey, you could at least bother to read the RFC before asking such a pointless question! RFC 2795 handles such things transparently. Under the hood you'd see:

                BoBoSIM> SEND FOOD
                SanDiego> ACCEPT
                BoBoSIM> SEND MEDICINE
                SanDiego> DELAY
                BoBoSIM> SEND VETERINARIAN
                SanDiego> REFUSE
                BoBoSIM> SEND VETERINARIAN
                SanDiego> REFUSE
                BoBoSIM> NOTIFY NORESPONSE
                SanDiego> ACCEPT
                BoBoSIM> NOTIFY DEAD
                SanDiego> ACCEPT
                BoBoSIM> REPLACE MONKEY
                SanDiego> ACCEPT

    But the ZOO abstracts all that so you don't have to care.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.