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Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

wsj.com

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Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#361

Post by raincole »

kmfrk wrote: post #305
troad wrote: post #278

The court decision itself is worth reading for a revealing look behind the curtain. [0] >> In Slack communications dated November 16, 2021, the Apple employees crafting the warning screen for Project Michigan discussed how best to frame its language. Mr. Onak suggested the warning screen should include the language: “By continuing on the web, you will leave the app and be taken to an external website” because “‘exter…

It's so jarring to get these kinds of message, especially for compliance with EU directives, because it's so obviously designed to look un-Apple-like which triggers some sort of malware or scam heuristic without the typical nice Apple presentation. Ironically it ends up getting flagged as some deliberate Apple malicious compliance BS which just sours you on the whole iOS experience.

I'm not even sure how "external website" is malicious compliance. Yes, I know the intention is to sound scary. But external website is the correct, neutral term which means... external website.

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#363

Post by llm_nerd »

brudgers wrote: post #48

Unless the fine is the better part of a trillion dollars, it won’t make any difference. Apple has close to 1/2 trillion in revenue a year. A few billion is rounding error.

The court is pushing for criminal censure of some of the involved participants. If that happens -- and it absolutely should -- it will have a tremendous impact on the hubris seen in Apple, and in the industry in general. Hopefully bribes don't get them out of this, and some Apple execs really do end up with prison sentences.

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#364

Post by VWWHFSfQ »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #295
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so good... but also it has taken so, so long to get here. The US should've done something about the app store tax a long time ago. People thought Apple won their case, but it... really just took time to get here. You get to try malicious compliance with judges exactly once, and then you're over.

Shoot me down with examples here, but my impression is that the US (historically, not just in the last three months) will never hurry to curtail the ability of a US company to make profit. With the possible exception of when a US company egregiously flouts laws that already exist. Effective regulation isn't a strength of the US.

The US has no problem with regulating its industries. It just doesn't do it pre-emptively out of fear the way the EU does. It actually lets business develop before assessing any damages.

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#365

Post by sokoloff »

larsnystrom wrote: post #350
hajile wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless the judge actually specified the type of language to be used, this seems completely compliant. Are they supposed to say "Please use our competitor. You'll find your experience with them far superior to what we provide" or something similar?

Why are they using any language at all? Why not just let the app maker open the payment screen directly?

Same (perceived) reason my bank and brokerages (and I think even my kid's school website does this) pop up a warning every time I click on a link that will take them outside their website.

I think there's a valid reason to think "if it's OK and common for banks and brokers to do it, it's OK for me to do it" and also to think "this will help protect users from being scammed by other apps who might pop open random links without any notices".

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#366

Post by Cthulhu_ »

larsnystrom wrote: post #350
hajile wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless the judge actually specified the type of language to be used, this seems completely compliant. Are they supposed to say "Please use our competitor. You'll find your experience with them far superior to what we provide" or something similar?

Why are they using any language at all? Why not just let the app maker open the payment screen directly?

From a positive point of view: so that app makers can't open up malicious payment screens. Of course, I don't think there's anything stopping them now.

From a more negative point of view, so Apple knows how much it happens and gets to have some influence over it.

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#367

Post by hajile »

jkirsteins wrote: post #342
hajile wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless the judge actually specified the type of language to be used, this seems completely compliant. Are they supposed to say "Please use our competitor. You'll find your experience with them far superior to what we provide" or something similar?

Malicious compliance is a thing. They're supposed to use neutral language.

Malicious compliance is only illegal if it doesn't actually comply.

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#368

Post by nobleach »

hajile wrote: post #340
kelvinjps10 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use Android without Google

In practical terms, you can't without switching to another company with an android variant that is just as bad.

I'm guessing the poster is referring to AOSP and custom ROMs. If so, yes, it is entirely possible, but not something I'd expect any normal human being to do.

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#369

Post by esotericimpl »

damonll wrote: post #348
lazide wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give the current situation with people ignoring the court ( cough into the presidency) with no consequences, what do you expect them to do? Take the courts seriously? Now, practically speaking, that exposes them to the Court taking all their frustration out on the execs. Oops.

You do realize that they ignored the court order -during- Biden's administration, not Trump's, right?

[dead]

Re: Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds

#370

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #354
avar wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most shocking thing to me about that isn't the malicious compliance, but that even after a court injunction, and fully knowing that there could be subsequent discovery, they have people putting something like that in writing . Seriously, this is one of the top 10 largest companies in the world, and they're playing chicken with the court in order to preserve their ongoing revenue. These weren't random employees, b…

People put everything in writing and in videos nowadays and don't even think about it. Often it's "not so smart" criminals but we see again and again that even people are the highest levels do the same...

It is not always a question of smart of vs not smart. At times, you will see people say something in an email or chat for no other reason than 'now it is part of the record'.
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