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Apple has locked me out of my developer account

rambo.codes

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Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#151

Post by cmcd »

atonse wrote: post #68
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…

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…

with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS

The App Store is the only Apple supported way to release apps, there are unsupported third party app stores as well. Lack of transparency is not good, but I'm not sure what the issue is with there being only one officially supported way to download apps.

It is Apple's product and software, they are selling the "Apple Experience" as much as the hardware. Having a single store with strict guidelines and QC helps to ensure the most consistent experience.

If you only care about using the hardware how you see fit you can JailBreak and get access to almost anything. You take the same risks you would if there were other, easier to access, unsupported ways to download unmoderated apps.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#152

Post by CodeSheikh »

This guys wrote a ranty article without telling/hinting/speculating us what went wrong? I am sorry but I feel like you have wasted our time by making us reading your article and as a reader and a supporter of indie dev community I am unable to conclude if Apple has done any wrongdoing here.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#153

Post by zeroc8 »

Answerawake wrote: post #70
liquidise wrote: post #38

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…

It's not that hard to find out which Hardware works well with Linux and which doesn't.

I'm running Ubuntu 1804 on a Dell 7740 as well as on a Thinkpad 450 without any problems whatsoever.

And if I was based in the US, I'd probably go with System76 or some other Linux specialist.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#154

Post by parliament32 »

TylerE wrote: post #119
rmsaksida wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Because that’s opsec 101. If you tell a bad actor how you caught them, you’re just telling them how to do better (sneakier) next time.

It's not about the "how", just listing which rule/clause in the agreement he broke is pretty essential.

Imagine being sent to jail and not being told what the offence was.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#155

Post by ajross »

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…

> rather than retaliate against him, if that is indeed what is happening,

Right, but isn't that the important point here? I mean, 9to5mac publishes good content that most of us read. There's little argument that what they do is valuable in some existential sense, and you aren't trying to convince anyone that what they do is wrong.

The question is if whether Apple is retaliating against aggressive journalists and their sources, right? You seem to agree that this would be bad, but then sweep what seems to be the core issue away with "if that is indeed what is happening" before engaging with the spin in the article.

I mean... if the article is spun, I guess that's bad too, but frankly I don't care much. If Apple is retaliating for valuable journalism, I care very much and want to hear about that.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#156

Post by rootusrootus »

FussyZeus wrote: post #142
chipsa wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone can manually kill a Dev account, they can include a message why it was killed. Even if it's generic form letter, it can be one that at least says what rule was broken.

They can. But why should they? What's the benefit?

Goodwill. Just because you're the big gorilla and can act as such with impunity doesn't mean you ought to constantly remind people of that. One developer doesn't matter in the grand scheme, but every time they get to the front page of HN with a story like this it chips away at Apple's (or Google's, or whoever's) reputation. Collectively that does have value.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#157

Post by HelloNurse »

im3w1l wrote: post #128
fetus8 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Sarcasm aside, Apple benefits from having an effective way to retaliate against Rambo; signing up for a developer account and using it was, sadly, an imprudent move that gave Apple leverage against him.

There should be some form of legal protection, for example limiting company control of app stores (which would be a basic anti-monopoly measure).

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#158

Post by Operyl »

Despegar wrote: post #94
sanxiyn wrote: post #2

> Apple always says that "running to the press doesn't help" This is a bald faced lie, so you must ignore it.

It didn't seem to help the Dash developer. As far as I know, he never got his developer account back. https://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/10/10/apple-and-kapeli-respond/

Seems it’s back though: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dash-offline-api-docs/id123916...

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#159

Post by saagarjha »

cmcd wrote: post #151
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…

with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS The App Store is the only Apple supported way to release apps, there are unsupported third party app stores as well. Lack of transparency is not good, but I'm not sure what the issue is with there being only one officially supported way to download apps. It is Apple's product and software, they are selling the "Apple Experience" as much as the hardwa…

> The App Store is the only Apple supported way to release apps, there are unsupported third party app stores as well.

On iOS, these are nothing more than hacks.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#160

Post by anoncake »

dkonofalski wrote: post #125
klyrs wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Because punishing is how you restrict free speech. If your "free" speech has this kind of consequences, it isn't free.
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