Apple has locked me out of my developer account • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#31

Post by ceejayoz » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #26

ceejayoz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And he’s successful: he leaked marketing images for Apple Watch Series 4, he found iPhone X glyphs showing the notch, and more. Presumably in violation of the developer program's NDA.

> he leaked marketing images for Apple Watch Series 4 I don’t think this specific one has anything to do with the NDA.

I don't think that really changes anything.

That article clearly indicates he sourced some information from the developer program betas, which would be a violation of the NDA when publicized.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#32

Post by GordonS » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

judge2020 wrote: post #20

Slightly unrelated, but in the Developer portal, you can only create 5 of the "Developer ID Application" certificates per developer team. When you want to generate another one past 5, there is no option to revoke old certificates nor is there an option to ask for an increase. I had to contact developer support asking them to revoke the old ones so that I could generate a new one (since the past keys had been lost to…

There is even a limit with the Apple Enterprise Developer program, which we had problems with just the other day. IIRC, the limit was also only 5 - it seemed arbitrarily low.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#33

Post by est31 » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

ngngngng wrote: post #8

djohnston wrote: post #4

Brutal, the frustration is palpable. Forgive my mobile engineering ignorance, but does developing on Android pose similar risks or is control less centralized to Google?

It's worse on android. You'll lose access to every google account you have (email, photos, drive) and if you circumvent by creating a new account and are caught then you will be banned again as well as all of the accounts that are associated with the new account. This could potentially destroy an entire business if they hire a banned individual and get their entire company banned because of it.

Actually this makes me wonder if in 20 years you become unemployable if you had your account banned for whatever reason.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#34

Post by sneak » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

conradfr wrote: post #27

Ardon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anything the threat to Android developers is much worse, because of Google's habit of banning entire google accounts for any infraction. Recently, hundreds of people had their entire Google accounts banned (with that ban upheld on appeal) because they were sending a lot of emotes (By request!) to a streamer's chat. These people lost everything. Emails. Everything in their Google Drive. Over totally normal behaviou…

Sometimes I wonder who are the developers that coded that and if they're proud of their work, destroying a not so insignificant part of many people's live.

Consent is an active process. Either party can revoke consent at any time without cause without being an asshole; future consent thus cannot reasonably be assumed in perpetuity.

Use offlineimap; make backups.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#35

Post by xhruso00 » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

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.

As per ex-App Store employee it always HELPS. https://youtu.be/tJeEuxn9mug?t=836

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#36

Post by sanxiyn » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

yig wrote: post #17

This developer is also a journalist who has written many scoops on Apple's upcoming hardware and software: https://9to5mac.com/author/guirambobr/ This may be why Apple is upset. Is it justified?

If this is it, Apple should say so, preferably with reference to Apple Developer Program Terms and Conditions. Running a Kafka trap instead is rather rude.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#37

Post by george_perez » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #3

What a strange predicament. Perhaps a naive question, but is it possible to create a new developer's account and then request a transfer of your apps? Given that you have the sources & password to old account etc.

You could, but they would probably not be able to get to the page to transfer ownership to another Apple ID because they'll probably get sent to the contact form dead-end.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#38

Post by liquidise » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

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 meant to be ignored. I would argue that the return of a physical Escape key is the only overtly pro-developer move from Apple in the last couple of years. Issues like the OP describes resonate well here because many of us have experienced Apple's tomfoolery in 1st or 2nd hand ways, too.

It is horrible to have your hard work, creative platform and livelihood torn from under you without explanation or for what may feel like arbitrary reasons. If HN comment sections are early indicators, devs are moving on. We are potentially a few years away from OS X apps no longer being best-in-class for dev tooling. That should scare people who are long Apple, a group that presumably includes their management.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#39

Post by rgovostes » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

> 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 releases. (To be clear I have no problem with this, but it likely violates the terms of the Apple Developer Agreement.)

Recently, Rambo published an article where he got early access to Apple Arcade, which I think may have crossed a line:

https://9to5mac.com/2019/08/17/apple-running-early-access-pr...

In a later post from a collaborating author, they described how they gained access to the unannounced service through their own Apple account, rather than a leak from an employee, which could easily be argued was unauthorized access.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#40

Post by romaaeterna » Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #31

saagarjha wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he leaked marketing images for Apple Watch Series 4 I don’t think this specific one has anything to do with the NDA.

I don't think that really changes anything. That article clearly indicates he sourced some information from the developer program betas, which would be a violation of the NDA when publicized.

Then Apple can respond in an above-board way to such a violation. If the want to conduct their response through secret channels, in a harassing way, they shouldn't look to the courts to support their NDA rights on this.

The same way that you can't stop paying rent to your landlord because he hasn't fixed your sink, Apple can't harass someone because they believe he is in violation of a contract.