Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app • Hacker News Board

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#201

Post by gargravarr » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:09 PM UTC

huffmsa wrote: post #119

Seems to me that Google is turning on a lot of deep learning models in production which aren't production ready. Search has gone to shit recently. Image search is hot garbage for anything but images with well known people / places / things. You can't reliably filter or sort news results by date. YouTube is filtering pro LGBT content but allowing weird Eastern European pedo videos. The play store is apparently moderat…

I searched for an error message yesterday and Search removed 18 of the 20 keywords (they are all scratched out as 'missing'). The only remaining keywords were for the platform I had the error on. Thousands of results that were all completely irrelevant. I was completely stunned how something I rely on could suddenly do that. What is the point?

Google's monopoly has gotten to the point where they do not care how their products perform, just so long as the money continues to rain in.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#202

Post by userbinator » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:17 PM UTC

StanAngeloff wrote: post #53

We were banned from the Play Store for violation of their Impersonation policy in mid July after publishing an update. We just got reinstated last week. During the course of the lengthy appeal I had an unshakable feeling I was up against The System™. I still believe I was communicating with a bot and not an actual human being — I refuse to accept a rational human being will behave the way Bob from Google did. It's su…

It's such a stark contrast to developing a web app which you can _freely_ publish.

The difference isn't between webapp and native, it's between publishing on Google's services and doing it elsewhere. Hosting binaries on GitHub or even your own site remains viable, and perhaps we should encourage more users to leave the walled garden this way.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#203

Post by userbinator » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:18 PM UTC

Havoc wrote: post #56

StanAngeloff wrote: post #53

We were banned from the Play Store for violation of their Impersonation policy in mid July after publishing an update. We just got reinstated last week. During the course of the lengthy appeal I had an unshakable feeling I was up against The System™. I still believe I was communicating with a bot and not an actual human being — I refuse to accept a rational human being will behave the way Bob from Google did. It's su…

>When did thing go so horribly wrong? When every company and their dog decided their content needs an app. Instead of using the nicely standardized thing called http and web browsers. That moved us from http straight to corporate technical fiefdoms with no control.

Instead of using the nicely standardized thing called http and web browsers.

...of which Google effectively controls the standard because they have a majority of browser usage.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#204

Post by touristtam » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:19 PM UTC

huffmsa wrote: post #119

Seems to me that Google is turning on a lot of deep learning models in production which aren't production ready. Search has gone to shit recently. Image search is hot garbage for anything but images with well known people / places / things. You can't reliably filter or sort news results by date. YouTube is filtering pro LGBT content but allowing weird Eastern European pedo videos. The play store is apparently moderat…

Funny cause I have just started to notice that as well, BUT I am mainly a DDG user that resort to using Google search in case I cannot find something satisfactory on my preferred search engine.

Speaking about YouTube, I think it might be recommending through other videos that you might have watched/liked that are not related to either, but somehow other users have watched/liked as well. So instead of having a relation A-B, it is now a relation A-C D-B, you and the other users have watched/liked C and D, therefore you might want to watch B.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#205

Post by daemin » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:20 PM UTC

laingc wrote: post #171

cbanek wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This also makes me feel even more strongly that the FTC should really clamp down on these very strict app stores. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/amicus_briefs/app... Both the App Store and Google Play stores I think are basically illegal monopolies. I should be able to install whatever app I want, without having to jailbreak my phone and deal with warranty nonsense from the manufacturer. Just like my comp…

Personally, as an iOS user, I do not want the App Store opened up at all. Currently, I can go to the App Store, install any app, and be about 99.9% confident that the app will do me (or my technologically illiterate mother) absolutely no harm. This is something I value highly, and am happy to pay the “Apple premium” for.

Except for those applications which have a "free period" of some days then charge $10/week and uninstalling the application does not stop the subscription.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#206

Post by inanutshellus » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:21 PM UTC

laingc wrote: post #171

cbanek wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This also makes me feel even more strongly that the FTC should really clamp down on these very strict app stores. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/amicus_briefs/app... Both the App Store and Google Play stores I think are basically illegal monopolies. I should be able to install whatever app I want, without having to jailbreak my phone and deal with warranty nonsense from the manufacturer. Just like my comp…

Personally, as an iOS user, I do not want the App Store opened up at all. Currently, I can go to the App Store, install any app, and be about 99.9% confident that the app will do me (or my technologically illiterate mother) absolutely no harm. This is something I value highly, and am happy to pay the “Apple premium” for.

What if Apple/Google weren't allowed to operate their personal app stores, and instead each was managed by for-profit 3rd parties?

They'd be small enough and focused enough that their only option for survival would be trust.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#207

Post by archi42 » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:22 PM UTC

panpanna wrote: post #174

Macha wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That time has passed. There's functionality on Android that can only be reliably provided through play services these days (push notifications being the big one).

You are correct, but how many applications need push notifications?

If you've an android phone, just count your apps? I did, and expected 8 of my 20 apps to use GCM. MicroG revealed it to be 11 (actually 12 due to "MicroG services core" registering with GCM as well).

I might be an outlier though.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#208

Post by blauditore » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:22 PM UTC

Everyone in this thread is bashing Google for their evil-ness, but I had the exact same experience with the iOS AppStore: Apple just claimed I broke some policy without further details, but I was pretty sure this was not the case. Upon asking for clarification, they basically sent the same paragraph again. I ended up sending an "update" with some random changes on things related to said policy (without actually changing functionality) and it somehow got approved.

If you think about it, it's impossible to fully check an app for compliance. That's probably why the enforcement appears so aimless and fuzzy from the outside.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#209

Post by segmondy » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:23 PM UTC

Okay, what if I can bribe someone that works for Google reviewing apps to terminate a competing app? Folks were bribing T mobile employees to steal phone numbers so they can empty bank/crypto accounts. Folks were bribing employees that worked for background checking services to pull data so they can perform identity theft. I imagine folks that review apps for Google are not highly paid and since they rarely reply to you. Most app developers just quietly go away when such things happen.

Re: Google just deleted my nearly 10-year-old free and open-source Android app

#210

Post by mirimir » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 12:25 PM UTC

The Google and Apple app stores and support services ought to be regulated as public utilities. Because they effectively constitute a duopoly regarding apps for mobile devices.

That would prevent them from arbitrarily refusing to provide services and list apps in their stores. They could refuse, but only for permitted reasons, and with a clear appeal process.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas has a pretty clear explanation.[0] The top DDG hit was an ancient law review.[1] It's probably outdated, but makes an interesting read.

0) https://www.puc.texas.gov/consumer/complaint/Rights.aspx

1) https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?articl...

Edit: I mean, whether you're a residential customer or a business, public utilities (electricity, water, sewer, garbage, police, ...) can't arbitrarily refuse service.