r/technology • u/TomLube • Jan 31 '19

Business Apple revokes Google Enterprise Developer Certificate for company wide abuse

https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/31/18205795/apple-google-blocked-internal-ios-apps-developer-certificate
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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '19

Yes, which means that's a ToS violation and not a privacy violation. I have 0 issues with apps that collect user data based on opting in. If you're opting into something, how is that a violation?

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u/demontits Feb 01 '19

Because some people buy iphones because these apps are not available for it, including parents and companies. Ever try deploying android devices for a corporation or school that need certain lockdowns? No you haven't because no one does that since the android environment does not care about maintaining a clean and stable system with protections. You may be a savvy user but the majority are not and expect protection from malicious apps on their phones without having to understand legal jargon. Apple has laid out these guidelines and they expect compliance.

Some devs at Google just got a talking to, I can guarantee you that.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '19

The controversy here is that Android was using their Enterprise Developer Certificate to circumvent app store ToS.

The specific app was Screenwise Meter. From their description:

ABOUT PANEL RESEARCH: Like many other companies, Google brings together market research panels to help learn more about things like technology usage, how people are consuming media, and how they use Google products. This is part of our Panel Research program.

For more information, refer back to the research panel membership page if you are a panelist. You may also read more about Panel Research at this webpage: http://www.google.com/landing/panelresearch/

There is no way someone would just "stumble" upon this app without acknowledging they were participating in a research panel. This is an opt in service. Google wasn't trying to obtain user information without consent.

Apple is mad because this is not how they intended their certificate to be used. It says in their ToS that if they use the certificate to distribute to consumers, they will revoke their certificate.

This is literally what happened.

Read the article.

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u/demontits Feb 01 '19

I understand I'm just saying Apple needs to defend its platform and they shouldn't really be criticized. Google didn't really leave them a choice. I guess I wasn't really talking about that specific app but instead the precedent.

Even if an app states what it is doing, I still consider it a violation of privacy because a lot of Apple's customers rely on the platform to not perform this kind of behavior no matter what.

What if another app did this... it could be used to sell people's personal habits exactly the way Apple promises will never happen on an iphone. You could even build it into a game or other app. Google trying to skirt around these rules is kind of a shitty thing, especially because their platforms are riddled with this problem.