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Apple Will Report Government Requests To Remove Apps From the App Store (theverge.com)
In its bi-annual transparency report today, Apple said that it will soon start reporting government requests to take down apps from the App Store. These requests will relate to alleged legal and/or policy provision violations, Apple says. The Verge reports: These numbers will tell us just how often governments are trying to block access to certain apps, and how many of those orders are actually obeyed. Google doesn't yet report these numbers specifically for the Play Store. As for takedown requests over the last year, governments around the world sent requests for information on 29,718 devices. Data was provided in 79 percent of cases. Governments also requested information on 3,358 Apple accounts, and data was provided in 82 percent of cases.
Go Apple!
We need some non-governmental, non-corporate watchdog organisation to report removals from the 'App Stores.' Google & Apple certainly can't be trusted to not silently snuff things out that show them in a bad light.
on all the apps it pulls itself being anti-competitive and the apps it pulls after stealing the original app designers idea?
Probably not. its apple.
Cuz if I had my druthers
I'd buttfuck both your brothers
Then I'd grab your sister
Take her out back and fist her
Go down on your mama
Start a whole lotta drama
Save your dad for last
So I can eat out his ass
If the same 'request' comes from the government of China as opposed to the government of Monaco will Apple respond similarly?
"These numbers will tell us just how often governments are trying to block access to certain apps, and how many of those orders are actually obeyed."
Not even close. Those numbers tell us about court orders that they are allowed to disclose. It tells us nothing about orders that they are prevented to disclose even happened or the quantity of such orders.
" Governments also requested information on 3,358 Apple accounts, and data was provided in 82 percent of cases."
Except, when they are even prohibited from disclosing there was even a request for disclosure. See above, wash.. rinse.. repeat. These numbers mean nothing.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
You're going in the right direction, but you stop too short and I wouldn't give you the favorable mod point (if IehaMPtG).
Apple (or the google) should be the authorities for their own stores, but the decisions should be based on PUBLIC information that ALL of us want to share in. That's why the "financial model" should be displayed in the store for EACH app, and Apple (otg) should help us understand whether or not the app is honest or crooked.
If the app has a reasonable financial model, and Apple (otg) can testify that it's the truth, then we have much more reason to trust the app than when we know nothing about the money. Even if the app says the financial model is a secret, that in itself is important, and you might feel free to trust the app anyway, but I sure wouldn't. More importantly, because Apple (otg) is involved in the money, they have reason to investigate the truth and because Apple (otg) is a big company, they have the expertise to assess what is going on.
Just to make it clear, there should be two parts of this. One part is written by the developer of the app, saying whatever the developer is willing and eager to say about how the app is financially justified or why it's just a nice charity.
The second part should be written by Apple (otg) and be out of the developer's control. In some cases Apple (otg) will be able to point at concrete evidence such as "Yes, we paid the developer a lot of money that came from advertising" or "Yes, the developer has a paid version with substantial revenue" or even "The developer shared his tax returns with us to prove where the money came from", but in other cases all they can say is "We have no way of verifying the income the developer claims from this app. Buyer beware."
Yes, Apple (otg) will still need to remove bad apps from the barrel, but there will be far fewer victims if the scams are exposed as early as possible. Even knowing that a developer has published and profited from previous apps is something we should know.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Good point, but if there is no solution, what is the problem?
Recapping my earlier and longer comment, bad apps have reasons for their badness. The most frequent reason is the money. If we can't get the real data on who says bad things about the app or why some government wants it nuked, then at least Apple (otg) could report about the money.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Lame, only the first half even rhymes.
Why not also report the numbers by other vendors? Why not also report what Apple themselves remove? Why not put those number is an easy to access page? Why? Because by mentioning the government numbers it get the public on your side. It manipulates public perception.
All the U.S. government has to do is attach NSA security letters to their takedown notices.