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Dozens of Adult Content and Gambling Apps Found Abusing Apple's Enterprise Certificate Program
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All this negative press coming out seems more like a coordinated attack on apple... just saying
Hard to parse this.
Are you referring to the very-cold-in-the-ground Steve Jobs here? Yes, he was the one that insisted on keeping the App Store clean. I don't think he controls the tiller by reaching out from the grave. Apple must have found the policies he instituted advantageous in some business sense.
To my knowledge, there is certainly no religious fundie streak inside of Apple. The company has clearly liberal politics.
While the policy might have started with Steve Jobs, I don't think it will change. It's actually IMO one of Apple's most valuable assets. Agree or not, it is a DIFFERENTIATOR in the market.
There's the one with the porn and gambling apps. And there's the one without.
There's also the one with unvetted apps trying to steal your data. And the one (largely) without.
I can offer my own observations as an app developer. I have no evidence - based on personal experience - that Android Play Store apps are vetted in any way by a human - save PERHAPS for the very first release of the app. Too little time elapses between uploading an update and it becoming available on the Play Store.
iOS typically takes a day or perhaps a bit more.
I think Apple was fine with these undesirable apps being sideloaded. It allows them to keep their app store clean of this without completely blocking access for those who would move to Android otherwise.
The Apple store is their store. Just like Walmart or Target. They don’t offer Adult Content because it doesn’t fit their purpose. They don’t stop you from logging on to your favorite porn sites via a web browser. They just don’t support selling it on their storefront.
So what are the pornography apps?
Asking for a friend....
Asking for a friend....
I can see hardcore pornography for free and paid using Safari, Mail, and even FaceTime.
(or Chrome and other browsers, email, and other social network systems).
Have to ask, whats the big deal?
Or if you want to look at porn you can go to safari where you can access the unrestricted web.
Why does apple need to make their store a platform for the porn industry? How does that benefit any users? I know as for myself it would steer me away from browsing so freely on the app store
With what I wrote, by default you would see the exact same thing as you do now. So there must be some other reason you want to censor and control others. Come on out with it.
And BTW legal in the country works just fine, newspapers and magazines have been doing it for years.
This sure diminishes the value of the whole App Store ecosystem, doesn't it. I can't understand how Apple couldn't see this coming. They really didn't think devs with an enterprise certificate would exploit this? These days, money trumps integrity every time ... for some folks (too many).
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Why, unless you opted in you would never even have to see it in the App Store. There must be some other reason you want to dictate to and control others. Come on out with it.
Sure, it's just a piece of cake to track the laws in many dozens of countries and have your App Store process vary from country to country accordingly. Not to mention that those laws are not static, they have to be tracked on an ongoing basis. Yep, sounds *simple* to me.
It’s not a public store, it’s apple’s store, they choose what they sell, we as customers have no right to tell them otherwise. You don’t like that Walmart doesn’t sell pin-ups? Guess what? Too bad. Apple doesn’t sell porn, they sell want they want to sell.
An opt in like you said would keep the store safe for those not interested, but apple still gets to choose what they sell. Apparently servicing their customers with gambling and porn apps is not the image they’re going for. Who’s to tell them that’s wrong?
Done correctly you would never see it on the App Store unless you paid the $1 to authorized it.
It benefits users because it forces Apple to be non-discriminatory. It removes political correctness. It enhances freedom of speech. It increases transparency by forcing Apple to get out of the policing business except in extreme circumstances.
For example, if Cook doesn't like Trump, put him in the adult category, then all of the mindless sheep (snowflakes) can go onward without a care on the world. Now I am not saying I agree with Trump. But Freedom of Speech means that you allow people to speak that you don't agree with. That is a foundation of our country (here is the US), which today does not seem to include California.
I don't consume porn. It wastes time, and is risky to your computer. But that does not mean that I do not see the slippery slope that has been occurring in the tech sector which reduces our freedoms, takes away our choices, takes away our access to reality, and moves us closer to science fiction hell where we are constantly monitored, judged and punished just for living our lives.
We're not there yet, but we are closer than most people think and the trend is clear. We are losing freedoms every month and no one seems to care because they have some special problem that Apple or the government is supposed to solve.
Nonsense. Some things are legal at different ages in different states, and it's even more complicated in different international provinces and states. etc. etc.
What about this abuse: 5-stars review: "Great way to control your wife - Easy to check where she is, and where she has been". Absher, a Saudi Arabia government app. Every women in SA is under the authority of a male guardian, no matter what age. Via this app the authoritarian is informed when the women for example uses her passport (attempting to flee to freedom for example). Thanks Apple for making this possible.
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Yet every time you apply for a business license to operate in a country you are expected to do it. Apple has licenses in every country and local lawyers to make sure they abide by the laws. Apple collects App Store taxes in every country required, you think they do that just on a whim from California?
Every magazine published and distributed in another country has to abide by that countries laws, like libel, etc. So it's not just Apple, everyone has to do it. When I set up businesses in Taiwan, I was personally subject to the laws of Taiwan even though I was a citizen of the US. And not only that, but I was also subject to the laws of the US even though I was operating in Taiwan.
The world operates slightly different that you think.
Nobody is dictating or controlling anything. You can still see whatever porn you want or download whatever crypto app or scam app you want. Just do it on the web, or use an android phone.
It's wrong when a company becomes a monopoly and when they sell me a device that I cannot control. They could also solve it by allowing me to install whatever software I want on MY device. Once they sell me the device, it is no longer Apple's device to control, even though they really really really want to have total control over it.
How would you feel if you could only park your car at certain retail stores or restaurants, because the car manufacturer did not want to tarnish their image. Maybe Fords should not be parked at Adult Book Stores because Ford does not like it.
See tech is new and people using tech are new (young) so they don't see the obvious absurdity of Apple's position.
Why do you think it is right for a company to be able to tell me what I can and cannot do with MY device after I buy it? Remember I bought it, it's not leased, not borrowed, and not returnable.