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Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

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Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#231

Post by BruceEel »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #64

And Apple is not even an isolated case. Google will close gmail accounts, take away adsense revenues, or remove youtube videos on a whim. Visa blocked users from giving their money to political causes they decided didn't aligned with their view of the world. For years Microsoft made it super hard to buy hardware without paying the Windows licence. They killed xbox remotely. They have invasive telemetry in Win 10. Pay…

> Thinking about the power we give to big entities is a central mechanism to build the society we live on. That's why we should think about what we buy, the media we consumme, etc.

Elsewhere on HN today we have 'On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B (1975) [pdf] (web.mit.edu)' https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23549203 in a way, you could say it applies to this whole situation quite well.

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#232

Post by [deleted] »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #205
duncanawoods wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small shops with card fees is the last remaining hold out for me. Payment systems should be nationalised and run by a country's central bank. It's a very boring infrastructure equivalent to roads. There shouldn't be a private company taxing every single transaction someone makes. Do that and the small stores can drop the fees.

I’m not sure I see your logic here. Do you think the payment networks will be cheaper to operate if they’re run by the government? Or would you prefer an actual tax to the fees you’re comparing to taxes? Do you expect banks would drop their transaction fees? Do you think payment gateways would drop their fees? Do you think payment terminals would become free, and their networks free to use?

[deleted]

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#233

Post by g_p »

rimliu wrote: post #194
g_p wrote: post #130

At this point I am hopeful (but not optimistic) that the EU competition/antitrust investigation [1] might go somewhere and get an outcome. The trouble with investigations like these, as we all know from previous cases, is they tend to drag on rather than yield rapid outcomes. In this case, it seems we've sleepwalked into a situation where there are conflicts of interest like never really seen before - companies with…

We already have the cookie law. Do you need another gift from EU?

GDPR itself is a lot more than the "cookie law", and in my view most people are mis-interpreting and mis-applying it. Any site that won't let you in without accepting their tracking cookies is actually breaking GDPR.

If we enforced the law as written, I think the "cookie law" would be a net positive for everyone.

In terms of who deals with the anti competitive situation, I don't think that matters. But this is textbook market distortion that traditional antitrust laws were made for, and I think it's high time we saw them used to break up anti-competitive market practices.

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#234

Post by close04 »

aljungberg wrote: post #173
pschastain wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda what voting is for - to change the current gov't.

Voting can be helpful, but not always. For a long time the voting majority in some places thought treating black people as lesser human beings was fair. In those cases, having the option to easily choose a different government would be useful. In a way, having states in the US is that idea. E.g. moving from a deeply racist southern state during the height of equal but separate era to a more progressive state would ha…

> having the option to easily choose a different government would be useful

This opens everyone up to the kind of complexity nobody is ready for.

- Would the groups split under different governments but sharing the same territory? Who has the final word?

- Do they split the territory? Who gets the better one?

- In any group someone will be unhappy with the treatment. How many times do you split and "get your own government"?

- Maybe the competition is between the already established governments of existing countries. What happens when one government (or the people it represents) doesn't what specific people from joining the group?

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#235

Post by mcv »

ksec wrote: post #108
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #64

And Apple is not even an isolated case. Google will close gmail accounts, take away adsense revenues, or remove youtube videos on a whim. Visa blocked users from giving their money to political causes they decided didn't aligned with their view of the world. For years Microsoft made it super hard to buy hardware without paying the Windows licence. They killed xbox remotely. They have invasive telemetry in Win 10. Pay…

>Visa blocked users from giving their money to political causes they decided didn't aligned with their view of the world. That is why I am absolutely against abolishing paper cash. Edit: I know there are countries where you have a democratically elected representatives and every part of the government and even companies is held ( more or less ) accountable to the people and does not need to worry ( much ) about big b…

The problem isn't digital cash, the problem is having payment infrastructure that's controlled by only one or two companies (like Visa and Mastercard). Payment infrastructure needs to be neutral with multiple payment providers on it, so when a bank is being unreasonable, you can just switch to another.

Of course this is also an area that requires government regulation in order to prevent banks from taking advantage of their customers. And that requires a government that actually cares about this sort of thing.

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#236

Post by athenot »

close04 wrote: post #217
erikw wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The incentive to care (in the US at least) is called tort law. Punitive damages against a company the size of Amazon for what sounds to me like theft should be very large. I'm sure that a lawyer would be interested in taking up this case, based on the size of the potential settlement.

What are the chances a small seller will be financially able to litigate with Amazon? And even if they do and win, what are the chances they're in a better position than before, meaning it's not a Pyrrhic victory? Edit. These are actual questions, the US legal system is very unkind with those without very deep pockets, having the highest litigation costs in the world.

I don't know the specifics and I'm no lawyer but for the amount involved, could Small Claims court be an option? No lawyers involved and if Amazon doesn't send a rep, there can be a default judgement.

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#237

Post by mcv »

sschueller wrote: post #214
ksec wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Visa blocked users from giving their money to political causes they decided didn't aligned with their view of the world. That is why I am absolutely against abolishing paper cash. Edit: I know there are countries where you have a democratically elected representatives and every part of the government and even companies is held ( more or less ) accountable to the people and does not need to worry ( much ) about big b…

Paying with cash also helps small restaurants and cafes. Instead of having to pay 3% and wait 3-5 days until they get the funds which might get charged back they have the money on the spot. No need for all these middle men taking a cut. Same goes for Uber eats etc. Call the restaurant directly, don't be a dick.

Or you pay the restaurant through direct bank transaction. Credit cards are needlessly expensive, but not all electronic payment systems are.

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#238

Post by mcv »

chrisseaton wrote: post #141
kabacha wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At one point abolishing paper cash is even remotely plausible? maybe in 100 years? So far cash rules majority of the world and I don't see it going away any time soon.

Cash is already going away in some countries. Almost nobody pays for anything with cash in the UK anymore.

The only people I pay with cash are my cleaner and my son's allowance. And even for the allowance I'm thinking of just getting him a bank account instead.

My favourite cheese shop used to only accept cash, but the owner retired. Beyond that, the only thing I need cash for is to give to homeless people. I think they're the main group losing out due to the switch to electronic payment; the can't afford the equipment for it.

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#239

Post by rbecker »

ksec wrote: post #108
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #64

And Apple is not even an isolated case. Google will close gmail accounts, take away adsense revenues, or remove youtube videos on a whim. Visa blocked users from giving their money to political causes they decided didn't aligned with their view of the world. For years Microsoft made it super hard to buy hardware without paying the Windows licence. They killed xbox remotely. They have invasive telemetry in Win 10. Pay…

>Visa blocked users from giving their money to political causes they decided didn't aligned with their view of the world. That is why I am absolutely against abolishing paper cash. Edit: I know there are countries where you have a democratically elected representatives and every part of the government and even companies is held ( more or less ) accountable to the people and does not need to worry ( much ) about big b…

> I know there are countries where you have a democratically elected representatives and every part of the government and...

At the moment. All those things can and do change, and then what will you do?

Re: Apple is threatening to terminate my developer account with no clear reason

#240

Post by DangitBobby »

vinceguidry wrote: post #145
noch wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's why I've ditched all of my Apple hardware and went 100% FLOSS years ago. The experience is polished enough for me as a developer to do what I need to do and after I set it up just the way I wanted it, no other setup can touch how productive I am on my Arch setup. For the majority of users, this is irrelevant because linux is unusable for them. And they are the customers. To have a sustainable business, we ha…

Unusable is waaaay overstating it. It's no harder to use for the average user than Windows or OSX. Gaming is actually easier these days on Ubuntu than it is on both other platforms. And it's just getting better and better every year.

Unless you want to use a gamepad.
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