381–390 of 515 posts
For the most part a very good thing. Wonder what that means for third-party HN client apps though, since HN accounts cannot be deleted.
It only applies to apps that let you create an account from within the app, so third-party client apps like this could just not handle the account signup. (I think they already tend not to handle it.)
What about inmutable systems? My app (using scuttlebutt) creates an 'account' but it's located as crypto keys only within the app and apple keychain. So far the apple reviewers refused to believe that it works like. It's open source, they've got the code... but still.... Same is true for anything crypto. The account as it were exists on many devices, but it's not something you as the app creator can manage. I think a…
This is why using the blockchain got user data is such a stupid idea. The immutability makes it impossible to redact or remove information, even if that information is encrypted. The same is true foor P2P services where there is no central accounting system. Deleting the account shouldn't be a problem if all the "account" info is stored on the device itself, so if your reviewers aren't completely incompetent I don't…
The issue is with Apple being Apple as usual.
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I do expect the company that sells hardware to their users to allow users to decide which apps to run on sold devices. Currently, Apple is behaving as if still owns those devices and decides which apps to run. Precisely this lock-in created by apple is actively exploited by authoritarian regimes. If Apple will allow third-party app stores or direct installation of applications on devices, dictatorships will lose this…
> If Apple will allow third-party app stores or direct installation of applications on devices, dictatorships will lose this capability to harm Apple's customers. As someone who switched from the Samsung note line to iPhone, the only freedom I felt from the ability to install other apps was the freedom to deal with all the unrecoverable crap ware. There’s other phones out there with greater freedom than the iPhone, p…
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It's not just banks either. Suppose you're an equipment rental service. But you can't delete the customer's account before they return the equipment (or pay for losing it). Suppose you're a dog kennel. You can't delete the customer's account while you have their dog in your possession. Suppose you're the parole division of the police department. Can the "customer" delete their "account"? This is the problem with dict…
I don't think these are corner cases. If the user is allowed according with their contract or law to delete their account they should be able to request that themselves from within the app. This is what I understand from what Apple is requiring the apps to do. It is very similar with GDPR "Right to erasure"/"right to be forgotten". For your specific cases: - if a user rented something then they should not be allowed…
But now you're exposing the huge problem. It goes from "everybody has to be able to cancel their account in the app" to having to be a contract lawyer steeped in the specifics of every business arrangement and know the law in a hundred different countries to be able to determine if you're allowed to cancel within the app.
Then the app reviewers would either have to be lawyers with plenty of time to make an accurate determination, or they'll be getting it wrong left and right. And it'll obviously be the second one. So now what does the dog kennel owner do, or the OP above, when the app reviewer rejects their excuse?
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What bank lets you create an account just from the app? … Okay, the digital-only ones, maybe. But virtually all other banks I've used make you go to a branch.
Any bank in America for the last 20 years. I opened my very first account at the branch cause I though they need to see me. Dozens of accounts at multiple financial institutions after that I never had to go to the branch. Most of my accounts held at places that don't have any branches within hundreds of miles. In fact Wells Fargo is famous for opening account for you without you even thinking about it.
Now it’s only internet banks that do this. They still require lots of KYC documents to open an account.
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KYC/audit regs aside, it's also because the account belongs to the bank. The money is held in trust on your behalf, but the amounts are a liability on the institution's balance sheet. This is also why an increase in the balance of your deposit account is referred to as a credit; the statement is written from the bank's perspective, not yours. What you have is partial control of these funds, via instructions to your b…
This falls astray of the new Apple requirement though, as I understand it.