Lesson #3295 on how to piss off your customers.

[b0fh]

Lesson #3295 on how to piss off your customers. Accuse them of piracy. In public. Lesson learnt well from RIAA and MPAA.

The bigger question is - why did Apple allow this app to go into the appstore. There is *NO ****ING REASON* a dictionary app should have mandatory/forced access to twitter. *N*O*N*E*.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2...ons-of-piracy/

[mobilehaathi]

What are the first 3294 lessons?

[Comeagain?]

Originally Posted by mobilehaathi

What are the first 3294 lessons?

I'm sure they'll come in due time...

[quasinormal]

.....and go out of business.

This is totally screwed up and serious error of judgement from the Japan based Australian developer. What the hell was she thinking?

There is apparently an apology on her website to her English dictionary customers who have been wrongly accused- in Japanese.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by b0fh

The bigger question is - why did Apple allow this app to go into the appstore. There is *NO ****ING REASON* a dictionary app should have mandatory/forced access to twitter. *N*O*N*E*.

Agreed. Apple should not have approved this app.

[0dev]

Originally Posted by b0fh

mandatory/forced access to twitter.

Apps can't get forced access to Twitter, if an app (from the App Store) has access to Twitter it's because the user allowed it to have access to Twitter.

From the article:

I got asked for access to my Twitter account, declined, and was thrown out of the app. Again and again. OK, I thought, apparently some update means the app now requires access—nothing new, apps need location access to access photos, and I don’t plan on sharing any words on Twitter anyways, so why not. I checked my word, went back to grading.

[firedept]

Originally Posted by 0dev

Apps can't get forced access to Twitter, if an app (from the App Store) has access to Twitter it's because the user allowed it to have access to Twitter.

From the article:

Yes the user gave access, but if a user is unaware that a piracy message will be sent to Twitter without any knowledge, that is wrong. The user was not warned in any way that was going to happen. But they were caught in a catch 22 situation, where as they could not use their program otherwise than accepting and allowing the Twitter access. This company has opened itself up to some real liable action whether it be by design or accident. Which I highly doubt the latter.

[0dev]

Originally Posted by firedept

Yes the user gave access, but if a user is unaware that a piracy message will be sent to Twitter without any knowledge, that is wrong. The user was not warned in any way that was going to happen. But they were caught in a catch 22 situation, where as they could not use their program otherwise than accepting and allowing the Twitter access. This company has opened itself up to some real liable action whether it be by design or accident. Which I highly doubt the latter.

Oh I agree, and I'm not supporting what this developer did in any way, I'm just pointing out apps can't hijack your Twitter account unless you give them permission to access it.

[firedept]

Originally Posted by 0dev

Oh I agree, and I'm not supporting what this developer did in any way, I'm just pointing out apps can't hijack your Twitter account unless you give them permission to access it.

Agreed. Did not mean to imply anything. I was actually agreeing with you about access, but was pointing out that the users got hijacked IMO. Be nice to know what Apple has to say about it. But am not expecting them to respond. Just makes me a little less likely to just go downloading an app and allowing it to have any kind of access. Wow, just floored that in today's age with all we have learned about what can happen in regards to security, that this can happen.

[0dev]

Originally Posted by firedept

Agreed. Did not mean to imply anything. I was actually agreeing with you about access, but was pointing out that the users got hijacked IMO. Be nice to know what Apple has to say about it. But am not expecting them to respond. Just makes me a little less likely to just go downloading an app and allowing it to have any kind of access. Wow, just floored that in today's age with all we have learned about what can happen in regards to security, that this can happen.

Agreed. If this gains more media coverage Apple will respond, but if it's just a few articles they probably won't bother. I doubt many people outside tech blogs will care about this one though since it's just one app behaving badly as opposed to an actual security hole being exposed.

[kuebby]

$55 for a dictionary app? Why not buy an actual dictionary and pay someone to carry it around for me?