Unfortunately this article is hard-paywalled (no workarounds) and The Information, which for a while was unlocking these for HN readers, has no longer been doing so.
We don't prefer to link to things that copy other sources, but HN readers need to be able to read an article or else we just get shallow reactions to nothing but the title (which there's more than enough of already).
I love Apple but I hate how they force you to use their App Store without alternatives. Once I buy a phone, I want the right to install whatever I want on it, just like right to repair. I know there are counter arguments like a need for security but there’s probably a better way to implement security when the app is registering with the operating system and should not be done via App Store gatekeeping.
Also, enjoying the insane irony of Facebook bringing this suit.
The main problem with Apple's App Store is that it is a closed monopoly. It is the only way to install software on an iPhone without jailbraking it, and if you do jailbreak it, then there might be other apps that refuse to work.
In Denmark we have a national login system (NemID), and if you got a Jailbroken iPhone, then you will not be able to use the (required) two-factor code-generation app, and then you will not be able to buy stuff online via credit card. I had a similar problem recently, as there was no alternative authentication option if the app did not work. Basically it just showed a popup telling me I had to use the app. That is NOT okay.
If Apple opened up their platform more, then more power would be in the users hands, and Apple would not be able to abuse their power to shut out apps or require huge developer-fees and percentages of app-developers sales. This current situation is more like daylight robbery.
Privacy is really a separate issue, and surely one that has more nuances to it. Flat out blocking tracking is not the right path forward just because it is popular.
>In Denmark we have a national login system (NemID), and if you got a Jailbroken iPhone, then you will not be able to use the (required) two-factor code-generation app, and then you will not be able to buy stuff online via credit card. I had a similar problem recently, as there was no alternative authentication option if the app did not work. Basically it just showed a popup telling me I had to use the app. That is NOT okay.
That doesn't seem an Apple issue but rather the maker of the app decided to add a check against jailbroken phones.
> The main problem with Apple's App Store is that it is a closed monopoly. It is the only way to install software on an iPhone without jailbraking it, and if you do jailbreak it, then there might be other apps that refuse to work.
Android does allow side-loading of apps, but only with the typical very very very limited very dumb privileges. If you want to do anything at all beyond what the OS is willing to bless, you need to root your phone. And as soon as you do that, you are back into the iphone/jailbreak nightmare hell world.
As soon as you root your phone, you no longer pass Android SafetyNet checks[1] hardwired on the device, and can no longer use a wide variety of payment apps & secure systems. Netflix. Google Pay. Samsung Pay. There's been some cat & mouse games[2], some wins for the rebellion/resistance, but the intent is clear as a bell: this is Google's device, this is the developer's device, and you the user are not entitled to privileges on your device. Anything that violates the app developer's sense of security is unacceptable in the New Computing Order (NCO). What a hell-hole piss-pot back-water reality of computing we've landed in. Bicycles of the Mind are such a far off out of reach intellectual froof-y ideal compared to this all-spectrum anti-us consumerization-assimilation warfare.
Apple is not the only one: it's every (big) company, every organization, fighting actively to deny us anything more than superficial access to the devices we carry with us 24/7.
Give us root, you god-forsaken infernal beasts! #IFightForTheUser. Make our machines ours again.
Ok but Facebook is also deeply monopolistic & anti-competitive. Just like Apple has anti-competitive & hardline control over the phone & what people do on it, Facebook too keeps absolute & total control over what users are allowed to do & controls the experience of networking with each other start to finish.
Both Facebook and Apple are monopolies & anti-competitive.
Both Facebook and Apple should have to open their systems & allow Competitive Interoperability. Most big players should face similar pro-human constraints.
10 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 31.4 ms ] threadSince it's hardwalled, it's against HN's rules (see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html and we need to bury it.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989
We don't prefer to link to things that copy other sources, but HN readers need to be able to read an article or else we just get shallow reactions to nothing but the title (which there's more than enough of already).
Also, enjoying the insane irony of Facebook bringing this suit.
In Denmark we have a national login system (NemID), and if you got a Jailbroken iPhone, then you will not be able to use the (required) two-factor code-generation app, and then you will not be able to buy stuff online via credit card. I had a similar problem recently, as there was no alternative authentication option if the app did not work. Basically it just showed a popup telling me I had to use the app. That is NOT okay.
If Apple opened up their platform more, then more power would be in the users hands, and Apple would not be able to abuse their power to shut out apps or require huge developer-fees and percentages of app-developers sales. This current situation is more like daylight robbery.
Privacy is really a separate issue, and surely one that has more nuances to it. Flat out blocking tracking is not the right path forward just because it is popular.
That doesn't seem an Apple issue but rather the maker of the app decided to add a check against jailbroken phones.
Android does allow side-loading of apps, but only with the typical very very very limited very dumb privileges. If you want to do anything at all beyond what the OS is willing to bless, you need to root your phone. And as soon as you do that, you are back into the iphone/jailbreak nightmare hell world.
As soon as you root your phone, you no longer pass Android SafetyNet checks[1] hardwired on the device, and can no longer use a wide variety of payment apps & secure systems. Netflix. Google Pay. Samsung Pay. There's been some cat & mouse games[2], some wins for the rebellion/resistance, but the intent is clear as a bell: this is Google's device, this is the developer's device, and you the user are not entitled to privileges on your device. Anything that violates the app developer's sense of security is unacceptable in the New Computing Order (NCO). What a hell-hole piss-pot back-water reality of computing we've landed in. Bicycles of the Mind are such a far off out of reach intellectual froof-y ideal compared to this all-spectrum anti-us consumerization-assimilation warfare.
Apple is not the only one: it's every (big) company, every organization, fighting actively to deny us anything more than superficial access to the devices we carry with us 24/7.
Give us root, you god-forsaken infernal beasts! #IFightForTheUser. Make our machines ours again.
[1] https://developer.android.com/training/safetynet
[2] https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/03/11/safetynet-improveme...
Both Facebook and Apple are monopolies & anti-competitive.
Both Facebook and Apple should have to open their systems & allow Competitive Interoperability. Most big players should face similar pro-human constraints.