Apple has locked me out of my developer account • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#121

Post by izacus » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:14 PM UTC

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #67

rgovostes wrote: post #39

> 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,…

I know you didn't think it through directly, but you're now basically supporting the ability of a multi-billionare corporation to financially attack a developer and disable their device over criticism.

Just how chilling effect is that? Not being able to criticise and freely talk about a corporation and its product due to fear of having your company financially destroyed or even your personal Apple ID killed over saying something bad over a corporate product. Are you sure you're defending that?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#122

Post by postsantum » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #75

ngngngng wrote: 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.

Can you cite any real world examples of this happening?

Plenty of them on /r/androiddev. Search by "suspended"

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#123

Post by dkonofalski » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

benologist wrote: post #65

dkonofalski wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Apple earned the criticism that led to this rule

How? Apple isn't saying that they're going to take negative action against someone for going to the press and bad-mouthing them and, frankly, there's no evidence that this has ever happened with them. That would be vindictive. What they said, on the other hand, is that it wouldn't be helpful to do so and that is an accurate statement.

Apple doesn't change decisions based on media reporting. They make and change decisions based on the information they have. There has never been a reversal of a decision that came as a result of media intervention. It has always come as a result of the affected party giving Apple some information that they didn't have before.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#124

Post by Spivak » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #74

ngngngng wrote: 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.

But you don't actually need any access to Google's stuff to develop for Android, so Google can't lock you out and destroy your business. Google can just cause a lot of inconvenience.

I mean you can still develop and publish your APKs online but not being on the Play Store is enough to kill most apps.

I mean if you're so popular/useful that users will seek you out independently you might be okay but there are a lot of shops where the store is their only marketing funnel.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#125

Post by dkonofalski » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

klyrs wrote: post #100

benologist wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> They simply have no right to quash free speech. They haven't quashed free speech. They've built a consequence to speech into their developer agreement, as an exercise of their freedom of association. If you're in a bar and you trashtalk the waitstaff to their faces, it's fully within their rights to eject you. You're free to stand on the sidewalk outside of the bar and continue to exercise your rights. Just as OP i…

That's a decent analogy and I'm surprised you're getting voted down.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#126

Post by pg_is_a_butt » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

bogwog wrote: post #95

ouid wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

these guidelines are pretty good evidence in and of themselves why Apple should not be in charge of this marketplace.

These giant walled gardens should seriously be regulated. One company should not have complete control over an entire industry like this.

You're right, no one should be allowed to innovate or create new markets. All that is to be created has been. When the government isn't busy investigating each other, maybe they'll find 10 minutes on a tuesday to think about progress.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#127

Post by sircastor » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

rmsaksida wrote: post #116

rgovostes wrote: post #39

> 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…

Even if that's all true, and even if Apple has good reasons to lock his account, why not just tell him the reason? I don't understand why tech companies have this passive aggressive attitude when users violate their rules of witholding information and giving some vague canned responses when asked about what's going on. Just tell him what happened in detail.

This is probably not the reason, but the first thing that comes to my mind is that providing a reason provides substance and reasoning for a response. The 'why' allows an individual to respond with a '...yes, but' and Apple doesn't want to deal with that.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#128

Post by im3w1l » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

fetus8 wrote: post #111

jrockway wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is banning journalists from submitting apps to the App Store because they don't like the coverage they're getting? That is worrying.

That's not what's happening. Rambo is known for reverse engineering Apple beta's and pulling information regarding unreleased products and then publishing that info via 9to5mac. As many other people in this thread have mentioned, it likely violates the terms of the Apple Developer Agreement.

How does the user benefit from not being able to install Rambo's apps?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#129

Post by zepto » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:16 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #104

atonse wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 stu…

Apple is banning journalists from submitting apps to the App Store because they don't like the coverage they're getting? That is worrying.

Obviously false. This guy is clearly profiting from breaking the developer agreement, and then lies about it in the OP.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#130

Post by ronsor » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 5:17 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #74

ngngngng wrote: 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.

But you don't actually need any access to Google's stuff to develop for Android, so Google can't lock you out and destroy your business. Google can just cause a lot of inconvenience.

>a lot of inconvenience

If that's what you call it, but business have had their paid Google Apps accounts nuked, and critical data lost. Publishing on Play is basically mandatory to get users.