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Alternative Android Market To House Banned Apps
sl4shd0rk writes "In contrast to the Apple's iron-fisted control over their App store, the Android Market is much more open. Google does, on occasion, remove apps it deems inappropriate, such as emulators, legally-questionable music services, tethering apps and one-click root apps. But if Koushik Dutta of CyanogenMod fame has his way, these heretic apps may have a home after all. Dutta plans an 'underground' Android Market complete with an approval process to weed out malicious applications; something Google doesn't do. Ideally, this will give Android users a more trustable source from which to get applications without having to resort to dictatorial software control."
Cyandroid? Andia? Trandroid? TheDroidsYou'reLookingFor?
John
I'd happily use this, maybe even pay for apps if they meet a need well enough.
But only if I can trust it. There has to be a general belief and continued lack of proof to the contrary that the apps can be trusted.
The Google controlled Market ironically lacks this element of trust - but Google have the track record of resolving any issues as soon as they spot them. So on balance, you tend to have a reasonable level of comfort, particularly if an app's been downloaded 5 million times.
However, I'm all for it. Lets get it up and running - after all, this is the very openness that drew me to Android ahead of its rivals.
Well, for a start, it's unlikely to require access to Facebook. That gives it a strong credibility boost from the outset.
and if the reason is copyright infringement, then they'll lose their safe harbor protection by approving the apps :(. In light of the last few days of takedowns + jailtime, Brave, but foolish...
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I don't know if they continue to host 'banned apps', but slideme.org is an alternative marketplace that seems to have a lot of stuff. It is ostensibly for those in countries who are banned from the market or those who don't like the Google TOS.
I used it briefly as I could not get the market running on my new phone at first. It would not associate with my Google account on WiFi or data using any of the ordinary means. It was not until I logged into YouTube that I got the association working. Even the gMail app would not log in until then. Isn't that strange. You would think Google would have their shit together better than that, but I digress.
My brief experience with slideme.org lead me to think that many of the apps are older, or cracked and possibly mal-ware, security problem laden versions, but I don't have enough experience to qualify that judgement well.
Silence is a state of mime.
Sounds similar to those projects like Al Sutton's AndAppStore (now merged with soc.io), which have been around for almost as long as Android.
The only difference I see is the approval process, which will make it harder for Koush to explain that he wasn't aware of the nature of an app once a C&D flies in. And given that apps are typically banned because they infringe copyrights or other monetary interests of big corporations, I'd say that C&Ds are inevitable.
When the android market started banning apps based on carrier request it only increased demand for such a market. As the number of people using modified phones increases, the incentive to make something better than the shady file locker/forum distribution method will only increase. Megaupload and similar sites falling apart may help the momentum even more. Cyanogen/Koush are in the best position to launch a new product like this since they can roll out new apps cooked into the ROM and they are already the most well known, trusted, and user base.
If it fails to gain popularity, then it might as well not exist.
On the other hand, if it becomes popular enough to attract endorsements from famous entertainers, it'll probably get shut down by the feds and he could get arrested.
That were breaking the license agreement of the code they based their app on; so SNesoid and Gensoid as an example. One can still download a ton of different emulators from Google's market; some are free, some cost a tid-bit.
Besides you needing a facebook account, CyanogenMOD has a reputation, making it a trusted source. I would install their market, but I wouldn't be caught dead with that one in my phone.
I'm a bit confused to why Google has taken down all the emulators since they are used for legal purposes (see homebrew).
I asked about this on Fedora's legal mailing list once, and let me paraphrase the answer I got: The Betamax defense to contributory infringement of copyright requires a substantial non-infringing use. Two dozen homebrew games compared to a thousand infringing ROMs is not clearly substantial to the point where Red Hat would have an open-and-shut defense against Nintendo.
How about creating your own fucking content
First, the major app stores already ban "fucking content", which would be rated X.
Second, if I were to create my own content, how should I avoid the sort of accidental infringement that got George Harrison in trouble?
Third, if I were to create my own content, how should I respond to allegations of infringement on grounds of having copied things that the copyright statute explicitly excludes from protection, such as methods of operation (17 USC 102(b))?
1) Google Market
How long until Google cease-and-desists the developer of ArcTools, the tool to "pirate" Android Market on Archos devices? And how long until Google cease-and-desists the provider of the Gapps package for CyanogenMod, just as Google cease-and-desisted Cyanogen himself when he used to provide it?
2) Amazon App Store 3) SlideME marketplace
Are AppsLib and Soc.io Mall any good?
And given that apps are typically banned because they infringe copyrights or other monetary interests of big corporations, I'd say that C&Ds are inevitable.
For example, these cease-and-desists may take the form of notifications of claimed infringement under OCILLA, commonly called "DMCA takedown notices". But if each developer includes a use rationale explaining how the facts and/or law disagree with any past claims of infringement, wouldn't it be that much easier for an alternative market to help the developer draft an automatic counter-notification?
because you'll never be very sure if the malware was indeed weeded out.
It's a store. They will make money. They will make money selling apps that people with sue over.
Best way to get around this is to dump the money to an IP licensing company.
Create the store software. Licence it at a rate that will consume 90% but not all of a stores profits. Possibly in the beginning charging more than 100% since it's reasonable in the beginning for a startup business to be in debt. Have the store pay the company it's IP licensing fees. Being an expense the amount paid is not taxed. In the licensing company you pay income tax, possibly less if it's based in a tax haven country such as Ireland. The software is just everyday online store software so there is nothing sketchy about it. It's incredibly hard to determine market value for IP so you can basically charge whatever you like. Even smarter to have multiple companies for different software components and or change companies supplying the software semi regularly.
Then when the media companies sue you you can pay out the small change the company kept and go bankrupt. Then start up another corporation with another shill and sell them the software and consultation services. This way you keep the money. The shill gets a job manning the store and taking the fall when he gets sued. Get a cheap lawyer to drag the cases out for years so you don't have to go bankrupt and change domain names every 6 months.
If Android tablets and smartphones don't meet certain fairly basic criteria, they don't get to use the Google Market and standard apps.
The problem is that these criteria once included having a GPS receiver and a cellular radio. Apple doesn't include these in the iPod touch, its 3.5" Wi-Fi tablet, yet it still allows the device to access the same App Store as the iPhone. There wasn't an Android-powered close substitute for the iPod touch to until the fourth quarter of 2011 when the Samsung Galaxy Player came out.
"these heretic apps may have a home after all." Hallo ?
http://francois.telematique.org/htm/android.htm lists some 30 alternative markets for all the countries where google doesn't work or for all the devices which have not paid for google market and hence do not carry the "market" software.
http://f-droid.org/ is definitely my favorite.
If it is far from the google market choice, the applications are of very good quality.
AppOke isn't bad either, and slideme was already mentionned, to name a few.
Special mention for GetJar, which I was using before my android phone for java stuff.
I heard through the grape vine on IRC its going to be called camelot
Never, because any nerd (aka, Android user) will hear that and think "let's not go to Camelot, It is a silly place."
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
I know I am wildly off-topic, but why is Google banning tethering apps and why is that an issue at all? Android has the WiFi hotspot by default, which enables any WiFi device to use the mobile device's internet connection.
Or am I missing something?
-- The Internet is a too slow way of doing things, you'd never do without it.
I use this great store that an unsolicited email told me about. It has all the pay apps for free on it and all I need to do is grant the phone root permissions! There are a few glitches with the store to sort out such as the occasional 3 hour calls made to premium lines in Burkina Faso but otherwise it's been working out great.
Where getjar is making money is probably by allowing all the telcos to produce their own branded store fronts hosted by the getjar infrastructure.
copiers are illegal, because you can upload copied ROMs
That's like saying video capture devices are illegal, because you can upload copied TV shows, or CD-ROM drives with audio extraction are illegal, because you can upload copied songs. And don't say Atari v. JS&A, because the device in that case was advertised for making copies to distribute, not copies specifically authorized under 17 USC 117(a)(1). We learned from MGM v. Grokster that how you advertise matters. So I recommend buying a Retrode, format-shifting your Super NES carts, and not distributing the copies.
So it's like Cydia with moderators?
That's so 14 days ago
To give users an alternative to Dutta's iron-fisted control of his Marketplace, someone else will develop an app store for malicious apps.
The difference might be that Android started life as a phone OS while iOS started life as a tablet OS. The phone functionality of iOS, apart from the hardware, are extensions on top of the core functionality, which seems to be "responsive UI at all costs".
So whose fault is that?
It's the fault of Chase Bank for not providing an option for customers to download its check deposit application as an APK directly from Chase's HTTPS server.
but they can't use the official Google apps and Android branding unless they conform to certain basic requirements
It's the fault of Google for having set the basic specs too high for years, as I mentioned above.
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