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Alternative Android Market To House Banned Apps

Posted by Soulskill on from the where-are-the-fun-apps-are dept.

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."

13 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. trust is the key element by Cederic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:trust is the key element by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      particularly if an app's been downloaded 5 million times.

      Really.. that is not a good judgement. What if the app is a popular one, you decide to trust it, use it for 6 months, then get alerted to an update. You download the update, through the market, only to realize that your precious mission critical (to you) app, no is either ham-strung or personal info reporting malware. Basing an apps security off of it's popularity is not wise my friend. Hell, Melissa and ILOVEYOU got downloaded millions of times!

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    2. Re:trust is the key element by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd happily use this, maybe even pay for apps if they meet a need well enough.

      Steady now. Don't be rash. 99c is a lot of money to an Android user.

    3. Re:trust is the key element by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It pays to check the permissions of an app prior to download the first time, regardless of how many people use it.

      Android will not auto-update an app or allow you to select the "update-all" option in the Market on an app where the permissions have changed. This has seen many apps instantly weed out the old bait and switch scam. Even if it's done by accident, one popular app from an Australian supermarket had an update and suddenly requested permission to the address book, contacts, make phone calls, etc. The app suddenly had 100 new 1 star reviews along the lines of "wtf permissions?"

      Mind you this does not protect against against bullshit apps like Where's My Water? from Disney. Now here's an incredibly popular game that for some reason requires permissions to intercept outgoing calls, WAP messages, and read my contact data, modify global system settings, and change my contact sync settings.

      Ummm NO! I don't care how popular your game is. I don't care if this is accidental. This kind of bullshit should not be installed on a phone, and an app with these permissions when not needed should no get even remotely near a 4.5 star rating.

  2. Re:How is this any different than BlackMart? by Cederic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, for a start, it's unlikely to require access to Facebook. That gives it a strong credibility boost from the outset.

  3. I believe it already exists... by wbr1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.
  4. Re:If they're banned, it's probably for a reason by LordLucless · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Writing an emulator isn't stealing anyone's IP. But the IP cartels will apply pressure and abused laws to persecute them anyway. Likewise, game rules cannot be copyrighted (art, and particular expression of the rules can) but that hasn't stopped purveyors of popular games from trying to strong-arm free variants offline.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  5. Re:What's he going to call it? by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 3, Funny

    The most recent version of Android is nicknamed "Ice Cream Sandwhich."

    In keeping with the theme, I propose that the next version be called "Creampie."

  6. Re:If they're banned, it's probably for a reason by LordLucless · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Even without homebrew - I own many Playstation games. The emulators let me play them on another device. That's practically a textbook case for fair-use format-shifting. Luckily, since I use Android and not iPhone, I can just install those apps from their project homepage like I can any other app on my computer.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  7. Google only removed the emulators... by JackAxe · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  8. Non-infringing use must be substantial by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  9. AppsLib and Soc.io Mall by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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?

  10. Re:What's he going to call it? by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Informative

    I propose that the next version be called "Creampie."

    It'll be called "Jelly Bean".
    http://www.androidzene.com/the-key-features-of-android-5-0-jelly-bean/

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."