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Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

deccanherald.com

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Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#291

Post by accurrent »

rishav_sharan wrote: post #163

Far too many optimistic voices here and that scares me. I don't see this app store being about providing alternatives. that's just a talking point. This app store is all about forcing every android sold in India to have a system installed govt driven app, which will report back to the govt on tons of private information about the device and owner. Information that Indian govt will be too incompetent to keep safe and…

Fact of the matter is there's nothing too scary about living in China as long as you are not involved in politics. The scary thing about a BJP lead authoritarian regime is that unlike the CCP, BJP is made of a bunch of idiots. CCP is authoritarian, but they have made sure every Chinese has food on the table, a roof on their head and one can live an honest life in China without having to be corrupt. Crime rates in China are fairly low and one can walk on the street in the middle of the night without living in fear of lynching or raping. This is not true of India. Even doing simple things requires you to have connections or pay bribes.

Additionally, CCP actually thinks through its policies whereas BJP rolls a policy out and then does a 180 degree turn. Just look at the COVID-19 epidemic. China actually managed to end it because it was authoritarian (even if you don't believe the CCP's numbers you cannot deny that they have managed the situation far better than a lot of other governments). BJP had the opportunity to do so but somewhere along the way decided that they could just follow Trump.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#292

Post by AnthonyMouse »

zepto wrote: post #244
bilbo0s wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm not sure a lot of people see what's about to happen here. Many here seem to believe this will open up opportunities for them to start app stores. It won't. It will open up opportunities for governments around the world to do what they've been contemplating for a long time. Part of which is to specifically preclude you from opening an app store in their jurisdiction.

Right - we currently have a quasi duopoly which frankly won’t last a decade if people are willing to compete with it. Both companies are showing signs of ossification. If governments get involved, we’ll have a government monopoly and government regulated software sales forever .

That obviously depends on which governments and what the governments do.

A US antitrust ruling that Apple can't constrain the user from installing apps from competing stores while Apple is still selling the device and not loading it up with crapware by default is very different than a requirement from China or India to install the government's store as root on everybody's phone from the factory.

The difference being that you choose which stores you trust instead of having them imposed on you against your will.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#293

Post by Barrin92 »

airocker wrote: post #249
rishav_sharan wrote: post #163

Far too many optimistic voices here and that scares me. I don't see this app store being about providing alternatives. that's just a talking point. This app store is all about forcing every android sold in India to have a system installed govt driven app, which will report back to the govt on tons of private information about the device and owner. Information that Indian govt will be too incompetent to keep safe and…

Privacy and Freedom are the same thing. If you dont have privacy, you cannot do anything as a group or individual that goes against anyone powerful. Freedom can also be thought of as sovereignty. I think if any government including USA has to be sovereign, it has to take privacy of citizens in its own hands. Democratic countries have to devise ways that this data cannot be used to influence elections. Otherwise, Keep…

>If you dont have privacy, you cannot do anything as a group or individual that goes against anyone powerful. Freedom can also be thought of as sovereignty.

Seems like a pretty one-sided American cowboy version of freedom.

More accurate take I think is that privacy is often a tool of the powerful stopping collective action of citizens. Finance, taxes, and payment compensation are a pretty trivial example. The rich and powerful love their financial privacy, ordinary citizens gain little from it. Wage earners who benefit from their status love that they don't have to share their income with coworkers who may be discriminated against.

I think the opposite is true. It's not privacy but transparency that is required if groups are supposed to be able to take action against the powerful.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#294

Post by danbolt »

accurrent wrote: post #291
rishav_sharan wrote: post #163

Far too many optimistic voices here and that scares me. I don't see this app store being about providing alternatives. that's just a talking point. This app store is all about forcing every android sold in India to have a system installed govt driven app, which will report back to the govt on tons of private information about the device and owner. Information that Indian govt will be too incompetent to keep safe and…

Fact of the matter is there's nothing too scary about living in China as long as you are not involved in politics. The scary thing about a BJP lead authoritarian regime is that unlike the CCP, BJP is made of a bunch of idiots. CCP is authoritarian, but they have made sure every Chinese has food on the table, a roof on their head and one can live an honest life in China without having to be corrupt. Crime rates in Chi…

> Fact of the matter is there's nothing too scary about living in China as long as you are not involved in politics.

Just curious, who decides what's politics and what isn't in China?

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#295

Post by umaobviously »

I feel like india needs to sort out abject poverty, lack of sanitation and rampant discrimination before moving on to government mandated spy apps. This is yet another example of that country’s government giving the impression of a democracy working for the greater good when tens of millions of people suffer. Pretty disgusting.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#296

Post by AnthonyMouse »

flyinglizard wrote: post #289
kelnos wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Controversial opinion here, but this is part of the reason I like that Apple makes (practically) all purchases run through them. They don’t sell my information, and they have an incentive to not change that. I'm sympathetic to this, because I do think it's great that Apple values user privacy. But I think it's unfortunate that the perception is that the only way to get that privacy is to use a heavily locked-down d…

The problem with open devices is that at some point someone is going to undercut you by providing a "free" product and then we're back in square one of trading user data - and in the process you created a fragmentation hell. Nah, give me expensive, locked down products (as long as they work). Clearly its something the consumers want, hence Apple's monstrous pile of cash.

> The problem with open devices is that at some point someone is going to undercut you by providing a "free" product and then we're back in square one of trading user data

Except that the stores have to compete with each other, so who is going to choose the one with all the apps that trade user data? Certainly not the users who are allegedly patronizing Apple only because they don't want that.

> and in the process you created a fragmentation hell.

I don't understand what this is supposed to be about. Is it "fragmentation" that you can get books from a book store and a library and online and a thrift store? How is that a problem? If the books in the thrift store are torn up and written in, why not just buy from a different one?

> Clearly its something the consumers want, hence Apple's monstrous pile of cash.

People keep saying this, but the fact that you have no alternatives to Apple's store on their devices is precisely why you can't prove it that way. We have no data on how many people are buying their devices for the store vs. despite the store and for the hardware or the OS or iMessage etc.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#297

Post by dodobirdlord »

amelius wrote: post #272
rishav_sharan wrote: post #163

Far too many optimistic voices here and that scares me. I don't see this app store being about providing alternatives. that's just a talking point. This app store is all about forcing every android sold in India to have a system installed govt driven app, which will report back to the govt on tons of private information about the device and owner. Information that Indian govt will be too incompetent to keep safe and…

Perhaps this will force Google and Apple to come with alternatives without the downsides you mention?

This is the downside to involving regulation in a technological space. Government intervention isn't a technological problem and doesn't admit technological solutions. The government can ban any alternative or workaround you can imagine in specific or in general, and moreover can ban the act itself of working on alternatives and workarounds.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#299

Post by lukeplato »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #166
wtmt wrote: post #143

This is going to be a big mess. PayTM as a company isn’t known for respecting user privacy. The CEO’s brother was caught in a sting video saying they could sell any user’s information for a price (search online and you’ll find the video). All that these Indian startups care is for them to benefit and control everything. It’s not about equitable treatment. It’s more about regulatory capture and making sure that their…

> This is going to be a big mess. PayTM as a company isn’t known for respecting user privacy. Controversial opinion here, but this is part of the reason I like that Apple makes (practically) all purchases run through them. They don’t sell my information, and they have an incentive to not change that.

I don't see where in the article they say that PayTM would be processing payments. From what I read, it just says that PayTM was in violation of store policy. I think the parent poster was implying that PayTM shouldn't be hosted on the app store because their violations needed to fixed.

Re: Modi government to set up app store alternative to Google Play, Apple App Store

#300

Post by dodobirdlord »

accurrent wrote: post #291
rishav_sharan wrote: post #163

Far too many optimistic voices here and that scares me. I don't see this app store being about providing alternatives. that's just a talking point. This app store is all about forcing every android sold in India to have a system installed govt driven app, which will report back to the govt on tons of private information about the device and owner. Information that Indian govt will be too incompetent to keep safe and…

Fact of the matter is there's nothing too scary about living in China as long as you are not involved in politics. The scary thing about a BJP lead authoritarian regime is that unlike the CCP, BJP is made of a bunch of idiots. CCP is authoritarian, but they have made sure every Chinese has food on the table, a roof on their head and one can live an honest life in China without having to be corrupt. Crime rates in Chi…

The fact that the CCP are competent authoritarians and the BJP are incompetent semi-authoritarians isn't really in dispute. But the claim that there's nothing scary about living in China if you're not "involved in politics" (whatever that means) is completely absurd.
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