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After Months of Heated Argument, Apple Permits Indian Telecom Regulator To Release Anti-Spam App, TRAI DND, On App Store (venturebeat.com)
After months of back and forth, Apple has permitted Indian telecom regulator TRAI to release its anti-spam app on the App Store. The app, called TRAI DND - Do Not Disturb, went live on the iPhone app store on Friday. The free app, a version of which has existed on Android platform since 2016, allows customers to block unsolicited texts and calls from marketers, a rampant issue that continues to plague customers in India.
The app has been the subject of months-long, heated argument between Apple and TRAI. Apple had argued that the app, which by design accesses message and call logs of a user, violates its privacy policy. The company, however, had agreed to provide some help to the regulator to tap into new iOS features to build the "Do Not Disturb" app. In response, R.S. Sharma, who heads the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, had threatened to take legal action against Apple. "This is unjust, it shows the approach and attitude of this company," he told Reuters in March.
Further reading: Apple approves Indian government's Do Not Disturb app, avoiding iPhone ban.
The app has been the subject of months-long, heated argument between Apple and TRAI. Apple had argued that the app, which by design accesses message and call logs of a user, violates its privacy policy. The company, however, had agreed to provide some help to the regulator to tap into new iOS features to build the "Do Not Disturb" app. In response, R.S. Sharma, who heads the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, had threatened to take legal action against Apple. "This is unjust, it shows the approach and attitude of this company," he told Reuters in March.
Further reading: Apple approves Indian government's Do Not Disturb app, avoiding iPhone ban.
If stupid Apple simply added another option to the "Do Not Disturb" function that allowed no calls nor texts from any number not on contact lists this stuff wouldn't be a problem.
Instead, they force a user to choose between ignoring all calls, manually setting up settings for all contacts one at a time, or just dealing with spam disturbances on the phone all the time.
in india... Poetic justice...?
It's a rampant problem here in the US too. I've had at least 5 robo calls trying to sell me insurance in the last 4 days. I'm on the do-not-call registry, so these are illegal. They're also using spoofed caller id.
It is Ironic that I get multiple calls per day with spoofed numbers. Everything from car insurance to home improvement to alarm systems, mostly from persons with Indian accents.
Spoofed numbers aren't ironic. You don't know what irony is - That's irony.
A. Morrissette.
I keep hearing people argue how Apple is great for development. They're not. They've always been hostile towards other developers under the guise of privacy or that the App violates policies,especially if they compete against their own products (such as Pebble did).
Furthermore they claim they fight for user privacy and such, but they actually fight to protect your info from other companies, not themselves. They use your information for instance often to sell you Applecare (or at least used to)
Less money
bend over even more for the Indian government.
apple is pathetically desperate for the Indian market.