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Apple has locked me out of my developer account

rambo.codes

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Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#381

Post by partyboat1586 »

atonse wrote: post #68
rgovostes wrote: post #39

> 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…

Said it better than I could've – there are some pretty obvious reasons why Rambo's account could've been suspended, the clear violation of NDAs being the main one, with him publishing information about unreleased products. I'm honestly kind of surprised they let him keep his Developer account all this time. My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. It's this kind of stu…

Being opaque gives them power. It makes people afraid of what might get them banned so they start self censoring stuff that's not even in the official rules.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#382

Post by abawany »

pdonis wrote: post #280
pgaddict wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure the primary concern for Apple is users. But it's not like the platform could exist without the ecosystem around it, which largely depends on developers publishing apps. And it's not as if the dev accounts are not subscription-based - it's not expensive and Apple does not make a ton of money on this, but it's not free either. And I don't think anyone suggests Apple should get rid of all the rules and accept anarc…

> it's not like the platform could exist without the ecosystem around it We developers would like to believe this is true, but I'm not sure it is. I don't think Apple would care if the third party developer ecosystem went away. They don't depend on it to sell their products.

How can you say that when the 16" MBP brought back the 'Escape' key? Why would you minimize your (our?) voice in this manner? To what end?

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#383

Post by Reelin »

behnamoh wrote: post #216
atonse wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Said it better than I could've – there are some pretty obvious reasons why Rambo's account could've been suspended, the clear violation of NDAs being the main one, with him publishing information about unreleased products. I'm honestly kind of surprised they let him keep his Developer account all this time. My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. It's this kind of stu…

> I strongly support some government action to change the current state of affairs with regards to the App Store being the only way to get apps on iOS. I couldn't disagree more. IMO governments should be kept separate from business matters as long as those businesses don't pose a threat to the nation. Otherwise, it'd be against the freedom of individuals and companies to involve government agencies into the matter.

I agree with the ideal of minimal regulation. However, everyone is forced to participate in and depend on the local economy. It absolutely must remain functional, stable, and reasonably tolerable to live and do business within.

The problem is that when a company controls a large enough chunk of a given market, their policies have the potential to cause serious harm. Regarding Apple, many of the counter arguments here seem to focus only on the consumer protection aspect of things. The more serious issue IMO is the business aspect - in the US, a company can't produce a viable mobile solution without targeting both Apple's and Google's app stores. For better or worse, these privately controlled app stores have become equivalent to essential public infrastructure from a business perspective.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#384

Post by fortran77 »

mortenjorck wrote: post #92
atonse wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Said it better than I could've – there are some pretty obvious reasons why Rambo's account could've been suspended, the clear violation of NDAs being the main one, with him publishing information about unreleased products. I'm honestly kind of surprised they let him keep his Developer account all this time. My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. It's this kind of stu…

> My bigger issue here is the complete lack of transparency or visibility into the process. This is indeed the core of the problem. If Apple provided a clear citation, e.g. “the following protected information was shared under your name at this URL on this date, which violates section xyz of your developer agreement,” it would still be unfortunate, but it would be miles ahead of Apple’s maddening “for more informatio…

So if you want to stop a successful Apple developer (maybe a competitor), just write blog posts using his name about Apple beta, internal, or reversed engineered things.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#385

Post by Reelin »

pdonis wrote: post #369
fjabre wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out compete Apple? You cant be serious. Unless you have a phone that uses quantum entanglement to communicate at FTL no one is out competing Apple anytime soon.

> Out compete Apple? You cant be serious. And if that's the answer, then devs who don't like how Apple manages their ecosystem should simply go find some other kind of coding to do.

Do you actually think it's an acceptable state of affairs for a company to be able to unilaterally put a non-competing and unrelated company out of business on a whim?

Apple isn't a traditional distribution channel. If FedEx bans me, I can switch to UPS (or USPS, or ...); if Apple bans me, for all practical purposes I can't compete in the mobile space in the US anymore.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#386

Post by asabjorn »

Despegar wrote: post #259
asabjorn wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are to trust Apple on the claim that they are a platform and not a publisher, removing for an editorial reason like this put their claim in doubt and I don't think they have the leeway you describe here as a platform. If Apple is now a publisher with editorial control, why would anyone trust them as a middleman to their customer base? Seems risky.

What claim? Apple has not ever disclaimed that they have complete editorial control over what happens on their platform, in fact they've advertised that fact repeatedly over the years. Being "curated" has been a central part of the App Store selling proposition.

They rely on Section 230 [1] protection, which only applies to platforms, to not be liable for what is published on their platform. If they have editorial control they are liable like newspapers are liable.

[1] https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#387

Post by asabjorn »

IAmEveryone wrote: post #292
asabjorn wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are to trust Apple on the claim that they are a platform and not a publisher, removing for an editorial reason like this put their claim in doubt and I don't think they have the leeway you describe here as a platform. If Apple is now a publisher with editorial control, why would anyone trust them as a middleman to their customer base? Seems risky.

This platform/publisher meme has always been a misunderstanding of the law. I guess now it's even being shoved into situations that have absolutely nothing to do with it?

How is that a misunderstanding of the requirements to be a platform to be protected from liability under section 230 [1]?

[1] https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#388

Post by chipotle_coyote »

205guy wrote: post #337
rootusrootus wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goodwill. Just because you're the big gorilla and can act as such with impunity doesn't mean you ought to constantly remind people of that. One developer doesn't matter in the grand scheme, but every time they get to the front page of HN with a story like this it chips away at Apple's (or Google's, or whoever's) reputation. Collectively that does have value.

Actually, every time an app dev gets to the front page with a story like this, one of the top commenters has more info that paints them in a much more negative light. Which is exactly what happened in this case (using dev account to access inside information). It happens so often that I am beginning to trust Apple's judgement and reactions, not developers (fair disclosure: I am not an iOS or Android app dev, the shea…

With all respect, I don't think FussyZeus makes a convincing realpolitik argument for Apple's approach here. Rambo hasn't, AFAICT, even had it confirmed that his account is suspended at all. The argument isn't that Apple is obligated to spend hours of employee time in back-and-forth arguments with people they kick out of the developer program, merely that they should be clear that that's what they're actually doing and offer at least a sentence or two as to why. The argument that this just can't possibly scale is dubious, given that Amazon meets that standard when they take action against seller accounts. Even Twitter and Facebook, which are dealing with far more bad actors, don't just mysteriously disable your login with no explanation.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#389

Post by dmatech »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #253
tener wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very much the role of the government to watch monopolies and act if necessary. Even if that means passing arbitrary restrictions on their business practices. Surely not all conceivable restrictions would be good, but some (like GDPR) are clearly net positives.

The question is whether or not Apple's control over iOS counts as a monopoly for this purpose -- do you look at iOS products as their own self-contained market, or do you look at them as "the mobile device market" that includes Android (and, at least on tablets, Windows and ChromeOS)? You can make an argument for that either way. (Personally, I wouldn't be heartbroken if Apple was forced to allow apps to be installed…

One might argue that forcing you to use their app store constitutes illegal tying. The iPhone could easily be made to run apps from competing stores (as is possible with Android). Don't think about competitors that do exist on other platforms (like Play Store), but instead think of competitors that were never allowed to exist on iOS.

Re: Apple has locked me out of my developer account

#390

Post by mirimir »

rgovostes wrote: post #39

> 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…

So why didn't he use a different persona on 9to5Mac.com?

I do understand why Edward Snowden used his real name for his leak. It gave him credibility.

But why do that for stuff like this? I mean, did his reputation on 9to5Mac.com increase sales of his apps? Or get him speaking engagements? Or was it just bragging?

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