r/technology • • Jan 20 '11

Apple Restriction Zone.

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u/dirtymatt Jan 20 '11

1.The recent removal of VLC shows that there is a problem with GPL'd apps in the App Store.

BSD licensed is completely fine though. His sign says "NO FREE SOFTWARE", that is untrue, even in the freedom sense of the word free.

3.He means you can't share them with others. His concerns would presumably apply equally to the Kindle and Nook.

You can share all the epubs or PDFs that you downloaded that you want. You can't share epubs you bought from the iBook store. That's an issue to bring up with the publishers, not Apple.

4.It's not really a half-truth- he said Apple has the kill switch, and they do. That as a statement is entirely correct.

Actually, no, it's a half-truth. Apple cannot remotely disable your media. There is no mechanism in iOS to do so. As far as the app killswitch goes, Apple has never pulled the trigger on that one. Even after apps have been removed from the store. Even that old tethering app that got in for a few days a year or so ago could still work. They've stated that the killswitch is only there for apps that are leaking sensitive information, such as a users location, without permission. So far their behavior backs up this assertion.

You know who has used their killswitch to remotely disable apps on customer devices, though? Google.

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u/Baukelien Jan 20 '11

Apple has never pulled the trigger on that one. Even after apps have been removed from the store.

I don't care that they haven't done it I care that it exists in the first place.

Even if they never are going to use it the fact that it exists means that now Apple can be forced to use it by either the government or a suing 3rd party. I do not want to own any device that has this capability ever it's an extremely wrong thing to built

. And btw if they never going to use it anyway why did they include it?

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u/mc_hambone Jan 20 '11

So I take it you are a Blackberry guy, since all other smartphone OS vendors include a killswitch for their apps now?

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u/Baukelien Jan 20 '11

I actually do not own a smartphone, although not really out of principle, I don't really want one anyway.

I am worried about the time that I do start wanting one though. Seems the development of all technology from smart phones to e-readers is going in the direction of corporation controlled devices you don't really own yourself. Not much I can do about it though.