Tor Project: Fake Tor App Has Been In Apple's App Store For Months

itwbennett (1594911) writes "For the past several months Tor developers have unsuccessfully been trying to convince Apple to remove from its iOS App Store what they believe to be a fake and potentially malicious Tor Browser application. According to subsequent messages on the bug tracker, a complaint was filed with Apple on Dec. 26 with Apple reportedly responding on Jan. 3 saying it would give a chance to the app's developer to defend it. More than two months later, the Tor Browser app created by a developer named Ronen is available still in the App Store. The issue came into the public spotlight Wednesday when people involved in the Tor Project took to Twitter to make their concerns heard. Apple did not respond to IDG News Service's request for comment."

Comments

strange priorities ... unless they already knew

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple can burn a book in seconds for showing a little bit of flesh, yet an application may be getting their users tortured in dictatorships and it takes them months to fix.

I think we know who's been working for the NSA and then denying involvement; don't we.

Re:strange priorities ... unless they already knew

[Anonymous Coward]

Please put an NSFW warning. Some of us browse /. on the clock.

Re:strange priorities ... unless they already knew

[John.Banister]

In a similar example when Apple pulled the 500px Photo App "the company was informed of the removal just a few moments before it was pulled from the store," certainly not given months to defend it. In an effort to help Apple with their priorities, here's a link to the 50+ Best Apps for Watching Porn on iPhone.

Re:strange priorities ... unless they already knew

[ArcadeMan]

"It's a disturbing example of the excesses of American prudishness."

Please put an NSFW warning. Some of us browse /. on the clock.

Indeed.

Re:strange priorities ... unless they already knew

[ArcadeMan]

Typical American knee-jerk reaction. Showing a nude body is wrong but showing someone getting shot in the head is normal.

Re:strange priorities ... unless they already knew

[lgw]

Clearly the TOR team is going about this wrong! Stop telling Apple "this app causes your customers to be tortured to death" - Apple cares not. Instead tell Apple "please pull this app, my kid used it to watch porn". Gone in 60 seconds.

TOR on Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're trying to use TOR on an Apple device, you're doing it wrong.

Re:TOR on Apple?

[asmkm22]

"Take a TOR of our lovely walled garden!"

Typical Apple idiocy

[bazmail]

They took about 30 seconds to take down that breast feeding app (a BREAST!!!), but something so utterly evil like an app that promises anonymity and delivers spyware gets to live on for months? Sounds like Apple may have received a National Security letter about this fake Tor app (i.e. leave it alone!) and are playing dumb.

Re:Typical Apple idiocy

[uCallHimDrJ0NES]

CORRECT!!!

Would have liked to see more information

[SuperKendall]

The article was pretty slim (even the links to discussion within) on detail as to just WHAT they consider to be adware/spyware about the app...

I would hope that some random person could not an app pulled because of it simply having ads.

The spyware thing is way more a concern - so in what aspect is it spyware? Is it sending back everything you browse to some third party? The problem is that even in that case, I don't know it should necessarily be pulled - that could just be metrics the app developer is collecting. It's shady but not necessarily a reason to pull the app. All of the comments I could see related to being "spyware" were about ads knowing location, but that's not uncommon for ads, and a user can simply deny location services when the are running the app (as I do for any browser I run).

Also of course, there's the claim that the app is a "fake" which would imply it does not actually browse using TOR. It doesn't seem that way from the reviews - those could be faked of course but it seems like you would ALSO see reviews noting it does not work at all. It's not like people do not LOVE to read one-star reviews for an app when they are unhappy for any reason....

"unofficial" would be a better path to takedown

[SuperKendall]

"Fake" is definitely the wrong way to describe it ( if it actually does use TOR ), but it definitely makes a bigger impression than "unofficial".

From further reading on the app, it seems that even though "unofficial" does not sound as impressive, it's the better path to taking down this app. The app seems to be using a copyrighted TOR logo without permission, and also linking to the TOR site for support even though that is not owned by the developer.

If they want to pull the app they should note the copyright violations to Apple rather than the vague claims of "spyware" without proof. Apple treats copyright claims very seriously. The developer could put the app back up using a different logo and support link, but that's OK until someone can prove real harm from using the app.

Re:"unofficial" would be a better path to takedown

[AmiMoJo]

"Tor Browser Bundle" is the name of the official secure browser/Tor app distribution. This app was using the name but was not associated with the creators of the real Tor Browser Bundle at all, and apparently contained advertising and spyware which as well as putting users at risk was damaging the reputation of the official bundle. Since it wasn't open source or audited there is no way to really know how well it worked, but the fact that it had advertising suggests that it was not particularly well designed since adverts themselves leak information about the user.

Apple apparently doesn't treat copyright claims from non-commercial entities very seriously, as evidenced by the bug report. It took people using their personal contacts to get things moving in the end. If the people at Apple who review apps before releasing them to the app store were half way competent they would never have allowed it in the first place. They clearly didn't understand that the claims it was making could't really be true (due to the advertising at the very least) and a quick google would have revealed that the name was ripped off.

Re:Nonsense.

[Krojack]

Because it's an iPhone! Apple knows what's best and they even examined the code! Geez..

Do not question the Apple Gods.

Re:Trademark Violation

[pipedwho]

Trademark/Copyright/Patent law aren't all inherently viewed as bad when implemented and executed properly. However, there are numerous examples (some of which appear on Slashdot) when the holder/government have overstepped the mark. This creates a feeling that the best solution to stop the abuses is to remove the system all-together. Here are some examples of the good/bad dichotomy:

Trademarks protecting an obvious brand-name: OK
Trademarks protecting a vague/generalised name/design: BAD

Patents protecting a clearly novel, non-obvious and very specific invention: OK
Patents on broad general topics and/or obvious incremental improvements: BAD

Copyright protecting a creator from having their clearly original work from being re-distributed commercially for a short time (14 years): OK
Copyright on a few bars of music that appear in the middle of a song from 75 years ago that could easily have been re-created without ever being exposed to the original: BAD