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Apple has locked me out of my developer account

rambo.codes

61–70 of 480 posts

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#61
post #33
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worse on android. You'll lose access to every google account you have (email, photos, drive) and if you circumvent by creating a new account and are caught then you will be banned again as well as all of the accounts that are associated with the new account. This could potentially destroy an entire business if they hire a banned individual and get their entire company banned because of it.

Actually this makes me wonder if in 20 years you become unemployable if you had your account banned for whatever reason.

I'm pretty sure that already in 2019 losing a linkedin accout might have serious effect on your career. Not completely unemployable, of course but this could have significant impact in some industries

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apple Developer Agreement states: > Your rights under this license to use and access the Content will terminate automatically without notice from Apple if you fail to comply with any of these provisions.

> More recently, I tried calling again and got to talk with a supervisor, who said I would be getting an e-mail with instructions to get my access restored. A supervisor shouldn't/wouldn't string him along in this situation

I have had many customer service supervisors give incorrect information. They've generally only got what they see in the CRM/ticketing system to go on; it's entirely possible that they may not be privy to, say, a note from the legal department.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#63
The risk of this sort of thing is why I have never, and will never, develop for platforms that I need a "developer account" or the approval of the company for.

It's far too dangerous to allow any company to be in a position where they can flip a switch (intentionally or not) and turn your business off.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then Apple can respond in an above-board way to such a violation. If the want to conduct their response through secret channels, in a harassing way, they shouldn't look to the courts to support their NDA rights on this. The same way that you can't stop paying rent to your landlord because he hasn't fixed your sink, Apple can't harass someone because they believe he is in violation of a contract.

Revoking access isn't a secret channel nor harassment. > Your rights under this license to use and access the Content will terminate automatically without notice from Apple if you fail to comply with any of these provisions.

And cutting off access is quite possibly reasonable. But they've gone quite a bit farther than "no notice" in refusing to answer any questions after the fact (or even point to the contract and any provisions they may think he is in violation of, if this is not just wild speculation) when approached by him. It makes their position that this is some sort of contract dispute far weaker. I assume there is an arbitrage clause in the contract? Has Apple contacted that party yet?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's previously demonstrated their vindictiveness in the official iOS developer guidelines 5 years ago - 'If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.' https://web.archive.org/web/20141226094343/https://developer...

How is that vindictive? It's true. What is the press going to do to help with an approval? That almost always should be a last resort.

First of all Apple earned the criticism that led to this rule. In what universe do we not have the right to denounce dumb shit corporations do? They simply have no right to quash free speech. This is exactly what being vindictive is.

In the buildup to this rule Apple was wrong, inconsistent and sometimes just ridiculous in their app rejections.

Calling broad attention to their problems, like their keyboard issues, is the only way they choose to listen.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=funniest%20apple%20app...

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#66

Tangential at best but this is why I literally created a new user ID yesterday solely for Google's Stadia. They have a tendency to lower the ban hammer with little discretion and I'm quite sure sooner or later griefers will figure out how to allege cheating complaints that result in account closure. I'd rather not lose my real Google account to someone's online indigestion.

this is why I literally created a new user ID yesterday solely for Google's Stadia

Not enough. Google's ban hammer can hit not only an allegedly infringing account, but also any account it suspects is even related to that account. Share an IP address? Log in from the same place regularly? Machine has cookies for both? It's all gone.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#67

> I’m just an indie developer trying to make good products. Apple should separate Rambo's software development from his reporting rather than retaliate against him, if that is indeed what is happening, but it is a little disingenuous for him to make the above claim. Rambo reverse engineers Apple products and publishes findings on 9to5Mac.com, in particular future product references that have slipped prematurely into…

I imagine he crossed some terms of service with obvious legal clarity... so, I guess I’m not sure Apple should separate his “official” and “unofficial” actions.

IDK. Maybe I’m just big into personal responsibility and knowing that you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you. He did a thing, and now pays a price. I guess I don’t see a lot of gray area.

Could you make the argument that Apple’s walled garden has issues, sure. But this guy clearly broke his contract so why would he or I be surprised when he was kicked out?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#68

> I’m just an indie developer trying to make good products. Apple should separate Rambo's software development from his reporting rather than retaliate against him, if that is indeed what is happening, but it is a little disingenuous for him to make the above claim. Rambo reverse engineers Apple products and publishes findings on 9to5Mac.com, in particular future product references that have slipped prematurely into…

Said it better than I could've – there are some pretty obvious reasons why Rambo's account could've been suspended, the clear violation of NDAs being the main one, with him publishing information about unreleased products. I'm honestly kind of surprised they let him keep his Developer account all this time.

My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. It's this kind of stuff is why I strongly support some government action to change the current state of affairs with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS.

These companies have been notoriously opaque in how they make such decisions (and sometimes inconsistent), and the fact that their stores are monopolies on their platforms makes this much worse.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#70

Apple's relationship with developers has been a strange one for some time. It shows up in all kinds of ways, from their app development ecosystem to decisions on their hardware. I used to think the swap to a Unix-based OS was a fundamental shift to move in the developer direction. During the days of XServe i think that might have been true. These days though it more like the development community is some noisy group…

What is the alternative to Apple?

I don't see Linux being solid in a few years time (or ever really). I say this after trying Linux again every year in the hopes that this is the year it is solid.

My anecdotal experience for this year is that the latest Ubuntu release had a problem where after performing a clean install and rebooting, the login screen will not allow me to enter the desktop. Turns out the desktop was crashing in the background because of a Nvidia driver. If they cannot even QA the login procedure with the default software then I don't have long term confidence. I will definitely try again in 2020 in the hopes that I am wrong.

Windows is degrading as they add more cruft to the OS while ignoring fundamental flaws that have persisted for years. Basic things such as smooth mouse movement and dual monitor scaling still do not work correctly. Meanwhile I am bombarded with more and more cruft that steals focus from whatever I am doing.

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