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Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#131

Post by eagsalazar2 »

cosmotic wrote: post #120
solotronics wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't people start lawsuits against them for these unfair business practices? If the damages to your company are small you can even file a local small claims court case. https://kahlerfinancial.com/financial-awakenings/weekly-colu...

Small claims isn't always a cake walk. The defendant can pay to upgrade to general division, turning the somewhat informal case into a full-fledged case.

Small claims and certainly general courts are often (and I think in this case) more about getting the attention of a big company than actually winning. Is google really going to send a representative and lawyer to fight you in either small claims or general over disabling your adwords account when any sane review would conclude that they are wrong? They will 99% just turn it back on. This isn't solving the larger systemic problem here but probably is a great way to get your account reenabled.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#132

Post by eulenteufel »

eulenteufel wrote: post #99
phh wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 3rd-party application store can't update apps silently to name one, the user has to approve every app update one by one.

At least for fdroid you can update apps silently. You need a rooted device, flash [1] and install the f-droid privilege extension [2]. [1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged... [2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged...

Alternatively you can install the f-droid privilege extension module in magisk.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#133

Post by mdwrigh2 »

vorpalhex wrote: post #42
webartifex wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. I am using the German email provider mailbox.org They even report how often the government forces them to release info with a search warrant. However, I have yet to find an email provider that mimics Gmail's tagging system (=> you can give n many tags to a single email and that email is only kept once on the server). I often think that Google's "Don't do evil" motto is stretched way too often these days.

They removed "Do no evil" from their guidelines.

It's "Don't be evil" and it's still in the code of conduct:

  And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!
- https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#134

Post by frenchy »

eulenteufel wrote: post #99
phh wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 3rd-party application store can't update apps silently to name one, the user has to approve every app update one by one.

At least for fdroid you can update apps silently. You need a rooted device, flash [1] and install the f-droid privilege extension [2]. [1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged... [2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged...

It's certainly possible, but as a regular use, it's a giant pain in the ass.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#135

Post by danShumway »

wtetzner wrote: post #108
tourist2d wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like saying the police are liable for you being robbed because the thief wasn't in jail.

I think the point is, if Google isn't liable, then why are they censoring apps based on COVID-19 keywords? Doesn't seem to be any of their business.

And if the police aren't liable, why are they putting people in jail?

Liability is not the only reason Google might choose to censor Covid keywords. They might do it because their users expect them to. They might do it because they think it's the right thing to do. They might do it because they care more about blocking disinformation than allowing useful information. They might do it because a programmer has been working on this really cool censoring algorithm and they want to test it in production. They might do it because they're tired of people talking about Covid on their platforms and want it shut down in general.

Section 230 applies to every major/minor platform in the US, granting all of them immunity from liability for most content. And yet, virtually all of them from Facebook to 4Chan, from Youtube to Pornhub, from Reddit to tiny 200-member Wordpress forums -- all of them censor some content. So liability is clearly not the only motivation for platforms to moderate, otherwise every comment section would be 8Chan.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#137

Post by fsociety »

koheripbal wrote: post #66
Kye wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23219427

Can someone remind me why there is an "app store" that is run by the phone OS maker? Aside from the anti-trust/monopoly type issue, should there be a more market healthy de-coupling between the place I buy my apps and the OS maker? Monopolies are almost always bad for consumers. I kind of chuckle when I think about how Microsoft had such a huge battle over IE being integrated into Windows, and now we sort of accept a…

Yes and yes and yes. Google nuked BlackBerry’s potential at a mobile comeback with BB10 by not allowing play store integration.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#138

Post by UncleMeat »

ppseafield wrote: post #37
scarface74 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Epic conveniently forgot to mention the part about the security warning being well deserved when it came to Fortnite... https://www.cnet.com/news/fortnites-battle-royale-with-andro...

Hmm... Well deserved, or a poor security choice for Android? The vulnerability appears to be that any app can overwrite an APK downloaded to external storage with a FileObserver. How is that not pathologically bad security on Android's part? > Any app with the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission can substitute the APK immediately after the download is completed and the fingerprint is verified. This is easily done using…

Android offers app-local storage that no other app can write to. Epic simply failed to use it. The alternative would be no shared filesystem at all, but then people would complain about that as well since things like file browsers wouldn't function and sharing things like photos between apps becomes tricky.

Notably, all operating systems that allow programs to write to files have this "pathologically bad security". Download a .exe file on Windows and check its hash before installing and you have a TOCTOU bug where malware can sub the file after you've checked the hash.

Another alternative is to not permit any application to be installed unless it is signed by the OS manufacturer or some other finite trusted list of signers - but then we are right back at the app store model that pisses people off.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#139

Post by jedberg »

zepto wrote: post #126
jedberg wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Imagine how much criticism Apple could avoid if they allowed side loading. Heck, make it complicated and require a Mac desktop/laptop. Even then at least power users would be happy. At least I could load up apps that aren’t approved without having to jailbreak.

Power users can use Android. The problem with side loading us social engineering attacks. Imagine how many iPhone users could be persuaded to sideload ‘corona 5g bioshield app detunes the software radio in your phone away from the harmful frequencies the NWO is trying to expose us to’.

> Power users can use Android.

I've tried Android, I don't like it. Apple has put a lot more thought into their UX. Also the Apple hardware is better.

Telling someone to use Android because they want control of their iPhone is a ridiculous argument because they aren't substitutes for each other.

> The problem with side loading us social engineering attacks.

Exactly, which is why I said to make it hard to side load. Require you to run an app on a Mac laptop and write some code to make it work. Make it so that there are so many steps that only the most dedicated are interested. But just make it possible.

And besides, somehow Android doesn't seem to have a widespread problem with this, despite allowing side loading.

Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms

#140

Post by vorpalhex »

mdwrigh2 wrote: post #133
vorpalhex wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They removed "Do no evil" from their guidelines.

It's "Don't be evil" and it's still in the code of conduct: And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up! - https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/

[^1] is the particular source I had in mind. It seems to no longer be a value but part of the signoff.

[^1]: https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-do...

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