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Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

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Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#181

Post by bmurphy1976 »

p1necone wrote: post #175
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any familiarity with the other apps in this space, but I am a heavy (and happy) user of OurPact. OurPact adds a lot of parental management features (including a remote kill) which the Apple controls are desperately missing. The backup is taken at install time and it's perfectly reasonable to do so. The backup is stored local on your computer using the standard backup mechanisms, it's not uploaded to the…

You're just teaching your kids that they can't trust you with anything. They'll probably borrow old devices from friends and keep them hidden anyway. And don't be surprised when they hide parties, alcohol etc from you, even when they might need your help. You might think you're doing something positive here - but all you're doing is ensuring that your kids will forever treat you as an adversary. Don't be surprised wh…

Wow, you assume a lot yet you know absolutely squat about my family. If you want to ask questions about how it works, how we use it, and how it's benefited my family I'm more than happy to discuss it.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#182

Post by bastardoperator »

umvi wrote: post #142
bastardoperator wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off topic, I knew marriages could be toxic but this is peak. If you don't trust your partner 100%+ the marriage is already dead IMHO.

My friend doesn't trust himself not to look at porn without a safety rail, so he bought a safety rail and gave his wife the key, so to speak. How does that make his marriage toxic?

I think this is what he told you to save face about being in a toxic relationship. Unless he has a problem or is looking at something illegal, I'd say the average person looks at porn sometimes and that there is nothing wrong with it. Even if he was being upfront and honest, why would he put something like this on his partner? It makes no sense. I have married friends and have been married for 21 years, I've never heard of anything like this in a healthy relationship.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#183

Post by sjg007 »

umvi wrote: post #142
bastardoperator wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off topic, I knew marriages could be toxic but this is peak. If you don't trust your partner 100%+ the marriage is already dead IMHO.

My friend doesn't trust himself not to look at porn without a safety rail, so he bought a safety rail and gave his wife the key, so to speak. How does that make his marriage toxic?

Safari offers content blocking...

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#184

Post by filoeleven »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #124
threatofrain wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also don't want Apple approving apps which can essentially take over everything and eliminate all safety or privacy guarantees... but this developer is also saying that Apple has approved competitors of the same nature. I don't know how accurate the fine details are, but this story in its broad outlines seems very unfair and capricious.

> I also don't want Apple approving apps which can essentially take over everything and eliminate all safety or privacy guarantees. Unfortunately, it won't happen because that would mean Apple need to ban MDM software from the App Store. Thousands of thousands of companies using MDM and it won't be a good move for Apple if they attempt to do so. Apple could do it, but they will lose profits, money talks louder than d…

MDM = mobile device management, in case you didn’t know like I didn’t.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#185

Post by mikotodomo »

camhart wrote: post #2

Some may not agree with the use of parental control/accountability software. That's fine. Truple is not designed for you. There are tons of people who are negatively impacted by technology and they desperately need/want help. They should have the option to get it, and there should be competition in the space to deliver the best product for them. In today's world, using the internet is a part of life, and isn't someth…

This app is lit. Can it track location or take photos from the camera (and selfie cam) from time to time? My circle of parents and friends are looking for something like this as there is rising concern of child abuse here.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#186

Post by filoeleven »

Pigalowda wrote: post #130
nightfly wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're not a victim here If the app was just rejected I'd agree. Freezing the account, and then _years_ later suggesting the user create a new account makes no sense.

I think it makes sense if the goal is to never approve such an app. A rejection and subsequent tinkering might allow a derivative to make it through. Perhaps they believe in leaving such projects in purgatory and the developer unable to troubleshoot.

Except that other apps with very similar functionality / level of obviousness while in use are still available. Without Apple providing information on what this app does that violates their rules which the other apps do not violate, there’s no way to know that equal enforcement is being applied. I don’t think the author would have posted if all such apps were removed.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#187

Post by mikotodomo »

verall wrote: post #55
camhart wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original version of the app I submitted for notarization had the Truple logo, with a red dot/circle to indicate recording and make it more suspicious. The redesign I did dropped the red dot/circle because competitors weren't being forced to do anything like that. Competitors just use their logo. And their logo's aren't any more/less suspicious than Truple's. If you click on the notification on MacOS, a menu pops…

> The original version of the app I submitted for notarization had the Truple logo, with a red dot/circle to indicate recording and make it more suspicious. The redesign I did dropped the red dot/circle because competitors weren't being forced to do anything like that. Doesn't this seem kind of damning? Like you admit the recording dot is suspicious, so you remove it because why? Are you targeting anyone that isn't f…

No. He literally just said he added the dot to make it more likely to be arppoved, then he realized it's unnecessary and removed it.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#189

Post by FunHearing3443 »

bastardoperator wrote: post #182
umvi wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend doesn't trust himself not to look at porn without a safety rail, so he bought a safety rail and gave his wife the key, so to speak. How does that make his marriage toxic?

I think this is what he told you to save face about being in a toxic relationship. Unless he has a problem or is looking at something illegal, I'd say the average person looks at porn sometimes and that there is nothing wrong with it. Even if he was being upfront and honest, why would he put something like this on his partner? It makes no sense. I have married friends and have been married for 21 years, I've never he…

I think you're probably just not in the circles that do this. Christian men do this all the time, either with their wives as the 'accountability partner' or a male Christian friend. It might be your opinion that there's nothing wrong with looking at porn occasionally but there are large groups that don't believe it is (eg most Christians) and if a married couple with that belief agree to set up an accountability system like this, whose right is it go deny that. Seems a bit like discrimination.

Re: Ask HN: Apple revoked developer account for 2.5 years and counting

#190

Post by ashtonkem »

nightfly wrote: post #126
Pigalowda wrote: post #123

Your app constantly surveils a subject and sends frequent random screen captures to a controller - no matter the activity. In order to eliminate a few sexual behaviors you’ve created an application that has serious potential for abuse and control. A well functioning adult will simply have a burner phone and the infected phone will only be used for “approved” uses. A minor or abused adult will stop using the phone and…

> You're not a victim here If the app was just rejected I'd agree. Freezing the account, and then _years_ later suggesting the user create a new account makes no sense.

I disagree, quite strongly.

Let's leave behind this app for a second, and speak in generalities. What should Apple do if it believes that an account is making and distributing spyware or malware? Should they not ban the account altogether? In fact, wouldn't you be mad if you found out that there were playing whack-a-mole with individual submissions from a developer that they'd already decided was harming end users? I personally would be pretty annoyed if it turns out that they let a malicious developer produce spyware and continually tweak and re-submit their apps it until the approvers let it through, and would absolutely support a policy of banning whole developer accounts for certain infractions. I doubt I am in the minority here, even if there are disagreements about what those ban-worthy infractions should be.

So, the question here is whether or not this app is spyware or not. I personally am beginning to suspect yes, both because parental software always toes that line, and based the apps marketing and the developer's comments in this forum. Others might disagree. But while it's reasonable to disagree about whether this is spyware, given the above logic I think we can agree that it's perfectly reasonable for Apple to ban an account that it has determined is making spyware. You should disagree with the determination, and understand that the ban follows that determination directly.

Personally I think the weirdest thing here is the recommendation to make a new account. Generally most companies hate it when you try and recreate an account after a prior ban, and an official recommendation here seems quite odd.

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