Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

Post by angry_octet » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 4:52 AM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #473

zrobotics wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Because Chrome allows me to navigate to all manner of sketchy sites- should Google be dropping Chrome? I mean, it's about as specious of reasoning as claiming that financial regulators will go after Google over donation buttons in apps. At that point, the whole thing is so far removed that it feels like being worried over getting struck by lightning. Heck, Chrome will even autofill a saved card into a donatio…

Google does not exercise significant control over what websites a user can visit with Chrome. They certainly don't maintain a whitelist. Some might opine that the Play store is perhaps a slightly different matter. It may also be worth considering that actions can, at some times and in some situations, be taken by human beings for multiple reasons with multiple independent motivations. All of which are real, genuine r…

Post by xyzzy_plugh » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 6:13 AM UTC

esotericn wrote: post #480

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your rhetorical is not equivalent. Google Play Store is a marketplace. Google facilitates transactions -- from users to app developers. Some transactions are free, but Google's financial partnerships might mandate that certain regulations apply to the entire Google Play Store ecosystem. I could be wrong, but I'd reckon this is a grey area and Google is opting to avoid the problem altogether (IMO a bad choice). This w…

They haven't chosen to just "not do that". They've chosen to pre-emptively cover their arse against a risk less likely than an asteroid hitting Earth by just nuking the apps. There's another thread on HN about this right now - I don't know how these people can like, exist, in this world, with every one of the hairs on their head individually combed into a perfect slick. Can you even eat breakfast without worrying abo…

Post by villgax » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 6:16 AM UTC

Post by BlueTemplar » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 7:30 AM UTC

0xEFF wrote: post #369

BlueTemplar wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a lawyer, but aren't sales and donations quite different? For instance donations tend to have negative taxes...

Not unless your entity is 503(c) tax-exempt which is explicitly allowed by Google. These “donations” are more like tips, which are treated as taxable income. I don’t see the problem here. The outrage in this thread seems more about people wanting a different set of rules for OSS and possibly avoiding income tax than anything else. If there are a different set of rules for OSS, then that just makes it easier to abuse…

Post by dessant » Thu, Oct 17, 2019, 7:47 AM UTC

thayne wrote: post #547

dessant wrote: post #491

WireGuard was reinstated after Jason has submitted a new version which does not contain a donation link. The issue has not been solved, and Google did not yet contact maintainers to clarify whether they would be allowed to have a donation link in WireGuard. Several other open source apps are still missing from Google Play, including andOTP. While WireGuard was bought back online, version 0.0.20191013 was briefly made…

But was it a version with the donation link removed?