Developer account removed by Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#71

Post by stouset » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:02 PM UTC

sealeck wrote: post #18

Manuel_D wrote: post #8

If the fake reviews are indeed the reason why the apps were taken off the store, that does strike me as an inappropriate action. Take down the reviews, yes. But closing the developer account creates a big opportunity to eliminate competition by buying fake reviews for your competitors. There's also nothing developers can do to prevent this since they can't curate or reject reviews from what I know. That said, other c…

> In that scenario, Apple should have been more specific in their communications. Often AML policy prohibits this because it could be constituted as tipping off the offender.

As someone with a long time in fintech, if your account is closed without explanation and nobody will talk to you, this is with almost 100% certainty the answer.

It sucks because people who have been clearly committing fraud then plaster you with negative reviews and sob stories but casually fail to mention it was their own egregiously fraudulent activity that caused their account to be shut down.

And it also sucks because people who may not have actually done anything wrong get caught up by these controls sometimes and have effectively zero recourse.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#72

Post by realusername » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:03 PM UTC

skratlo wrote: post #25

The whole business model of living off of App stores, controlled by tech giants, is flawed, and no sane person should ever make this their sole source of income. It's like being held hostage.

I also have the same (controversial maybe) opinion, the mobile stores are good enough for a hobby developer, they are not mature enough for real businesses.

I'm going to launch another mobile app for some side income in the future but I'll never launch a real business based on that, that's for sure.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#73

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:03 PM UTC

slezyr wrote: post #43

Russian guy saying that he is in Chile in the first sentence? Absolutely nothing suspicious. https://companies.rbc.ru/id/1215600010141-obschestvo-s-ogran... It is even a Russian company. It was registered a bit before the war started and liquidated not so long ago.

[deleted]

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#74

Post by lolinder » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:03 PM UTC

LocalH wrote: post #62

sealeck wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In that scenario, Apple should have been more specific in their communications. Often AML policy prohibits this because it could be constituted as tipping off the offender.

This is garbage. Imagine if other law worked this way. "We're going to arrest you and put you in jail, but we won't tell you what you're accused of, nor give you a proper appeal." During an investigation, I get it. After charges have been leveled? Most certainly not .

Charges haven't been leveled yet. In theory, if Apple suspects money laundering they should both freeze the account and tell the authorities. The authorities want time to piece together their case before the money launderers disappear, so they ask for Apple to keep quiet until they have a chance to review everything.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#75

Post by ilamont » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:03 PM UTC

Many platforms have this issue. While some freezes are deserved, others are false positives or account problems that are difficult to resolve.

Amazon sellers live in dread of this scenario, not only because of the frozen funds, but also the inability to get a clear answer of what policy was broken. Or, Amazon's automated shutdowns make accusations that are impossible to disprove such as review manipulation or running multiple seller accounts. You can see a sample here: https://twitter.com/AmazonASGTG

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#76

Post by tremon » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:05 PM UTC

blowski wrote: post #51

skratlo wrote: post #25

The whole business model of living off of App stores, controlled by tech giants, is flawed, and no sane person should ever make this their sole source of income. It's like being held hostage.

It's more like working in a world where there are rewards and risks. There is a good argument that the world as a whole would be better off without the current App Store model, but it makes sense for individuals to aim to profit from the existing model.

The real world also has rewards and risks. It also has a judicial system where the actions of both parties are weighted and judged by an independent party. In that world, one party cannot summarily forfeit an outstanding balance owed to the other party.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#77

Post by SenAnder » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:05 PM UTC

skratlo wrote: post #25

The whole business model of living off of App stores, controlled by tech giants, is flawed, and no sane person should ever make this their sole source of income. It's like being held hostage.

This is getting to be a lot like "no sane peasant should farm the feudal lords land"

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#78

Post by djbusby » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:06 PM UTC

brookst wrote: post #60

wahnfrieden wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple holds it

False. Google “escheatment”

https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answersescheat

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#79

Post by Aromasin » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:06 PM UTC

slezyr wrote: post #43

Russian guy saying that he is in Chile in the first sentence? Absolutely nothing suspicious. https://companies.rbc.ru/id/1215600010141-obschestvo-s-ogran... It is even a Russian company. It was registered a bit before the war started and liquidated not so long ago.

To be honest, provided none of the tax/profit makes its way back to Russia through illegal channels to circumvent sanctions, I don't see the problem. I know plenty of my colleagues migrated out of Russia to Germany, Israel, Turkey, and Greece following the war and started businesses there or continued already existing ones in a new locale. They wanted a new life for themselves, not under the rule of a crazed dictator.

Re: Developer account removed by Apple

#80

Post by echelon » Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 6:07 PM UTC

judge2020 wrote: post #40

Manuel_D wrote: post #8

If the fake reviews are indeed the reason why the apps were taken off the store, that does strike me as an inappropriate action. Take down the reviews, yes. But closing the developer account creates a big opportunity to eliminate competition by buying fake reviews for your competitors. There's also nothing developers can do to prevent this since they can't curate or reject reviews from what I know. That said, other c…

This was talked about by Phillip Shoemaker (head of App Store Review 2009-2016) in this talk[0], where some developers figured out that if they hired marketing firms to commit review fraud on a competitor’s app, their competitor would get terminated because there’s no clear way to actually attribute the fraud to the developer. I guess the App Store fraud prevention team hasn’t necessarily found a good solution yet. 0…

> I guess the App Store fraud prevention team hasn’t necessarily found a good solution yet.

The most essential device of the century is owned by two companies. The ability for them to completely control software and business activities on top of something that is almost as essential as public transportation is appalling.

The DOJ needs to remove the "app store" racket for essential computing devices. Software needs to be freely installable, sans vendor control, unfair competition, scare tactics, mandatory taxation, and adversarial ad placement by the cellphone duopoly.

Not only is cell phone compute freedom essential, but we desperately need more than just two vendors.