> Gosh, it’s almost like Apple serving as the exclusive gatekeeper for what software can be installed on the iPhone (and iPad, and Apple TV, and Apple Watch, and Vision Pro) is a bad thing that creates a single point of failure which can be abused by increasingly authoritarian governments.
Apple should not be able to decide which apps their customers are allowed to use. It's one thing to make decisions about which products are allowed in your store, and quite another to unilaterally ban software from what is many people's primary computer.
There should have always been a side-loading switch. It doesn't have to be easy to find, it just needs to be available in the event of an emergency. Any possible security arguments to the contrary pale in comparison to the importance of maintaining a free society.
We live in a digital age, and software is a form of free expression. We would not (I hope) find this situation acceptable for eBooks, and we should not find it acceptable for software.
I am horrified that Google has decided to move in the same direction on Android, and I urge them to reconsider before it's too late. Right now, these apps can still be sideloaded on Android phones, so to be honest I don't care that much what Google does with the Play Store. But what happens next year?
Google has been clamping down over the past year or two on sideloading too. I used to be able to install games restricted to Japan if they were uploaded to apkpure, but every one lately gets stopped either by Play Services or the Play Store under the claim of "safety" and can't be worked around.
> “removed apps that share the location of what it describes as a vulnerable group after a recent violent act against them connected to this sort of app"
Apparently armed, masked thugs covered in body armor dragging people off the street for the federal government count as a "vulnerable group" now?
I already lost all remaining respect for Tim Cook when he kissed the ring in the oval office. I wonder how Steve Jobs would have handled the current political challenges.
Americans elected a mob boss to their highest office and he also appointed many of the judges in the legal system. As a corporation your choices are to give in or to get crushed.
The right wing's long-cultivated victimhood narrative is reaching its natural climax. Nowadays you can literally be the boot stomping on a human face forever and also be a victim because you stubbed your toe.
Government will just hijack the domain as they have with torrents and other things they don't like
Am working on a mobile app that requires in person keygen/sharing via Bluetooth, syncs selected data between devices once keys exchanged and new local IP is shared (over something like Signal; discovery is hard/expensive so I am going with a low tech manual option to notify peers how to reconnect)
Flood the field with alternatives to keep The Man on his toes and distracted.
The main problem with hyper normalized and streamlined society is it just makes it easier for The Man to spot and squash dissent. What is dissent when the people are peacefully not following orders by making passive surveillance difficult.
So... we're building the most secure devices ever, so secure that only two megacorps have final say on what we can and can't install on said devices (if we want a usable device). Browsers are heading the same way, we sure enjoy our Manifest V3 security.
The CEOs were all there at the inauguration. Is anyone really surprised that they're taking orders from this administration?
That there isn't a free software implementation here is indeed bad. Trying to fight about software liberties at this moment when the apps are being de-facto banned is Just Not the Time.
But absolutely start a project under a permissive license. That's a great idea.
Seems to me like it would be a great opportunity to make a list of subversives, judt by exfiltrating their identity via the "app". Cooperation from the developer is optional.
There's precious little reason to distribute as an app, except for exploiting the user. If all you wanted to do was show things on a map then the web is already well set up for that. In fact the apps are probably just embedding a web browser anyway (haven't checked).
I'm no fan of ICE, but I wouldn't trust these developers either.
It's the equivalent of posting on social media that you just saw some ice agents at such and such an address. Completely protected speech... At least it is unless the Roberts court shadow dockets it.
But publishing location information of where authorities happen to be in public at a certain time... I don't think is actually illegal. The Apple app author also believes he is 100% legal and is seeking to go to court over this.
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power"
Is a quote often wrongly attributed to Mr. Fascism Benito Mussolini himself, but whoever said it had made a damn good point. Be aware that what you are seeing now fits the exact and precise definition of fascism.
It's amusing seeing the US descend so quickly in pure unadulterated fascism and the amount of denial and attempts to sugar coat it or window dress in places like HN. Then forums like this will go dark, and next thing you know, the brownshirts from
the modern Gestapo/Stasi/ICE would be knocking on your door.
Make no mistake about Google and Apple: moderating anti fascist apps or content is abetting fascism (that applies to HN mods as well).
Some people are still under the impression that they live in a democratic republic under a constitutional doctrine of permissive freedom and the rule of law.
Why would it? The key difference is businesses / people making choices and the government coercing businesses / people to make choices the government wants. One is a first amendment violation, one is exercising the first amendment.
XKCD's point stands as long as nobody has a monopoly on an important medium. Apple and Google effectively do have a duopoly on mobile app distribution, and mobile apps are an important medium for speech in 2025.
I am all for letting low effort labor exploiters create low effort comics. Same as I am for my having no obligation to support them directly by reading their comics.
Entertainers are a kind of contemporary secular faith healer and tribal shaman, imo.
To mix metaphors, stopped clocks who can be right and worth listening to only in very specific situations.
[+] [-] Wowfunhappy|5 months ago|reply
> Gosh, it’s almost like Apple serving as the exclusive gatekeeper for what software can be installed on the iPhone (and iPad, and Apple TV, and Apple Watch, and Vision Pro) is a bad thing that creates a single point of failure which can be abused by increasingly authoritarian governments.
Apple should not be able to decide which apps their customers are allowed to use. It's one thing to make decisions about which products are allowed in your store, and quite another to unilaterally ban software from what is many people's primary computer.
There should have always been a side-loading switch. It doesn't have to be easy to find, it just needs to be available in the event of an emergency. Any possible security arguments to the contrary pale in comparison to the importance of maintaining a free society.
We live in a digital age, and software is a form of free expression. We would not (I hope) find this situation acceptable for eBooks, and we should not find it acceptable for software.
I am horrified that Google has decided to move in the same direction on Android, and I urge them to reconsider before it's too late. Right now, these apps can still be sideloaded on Android phones, so to be honest I don't care that much what Google does with the Play Store. But what happens next year?
[+] [-] GoblinSlayer|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] fallinghawks|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] bootsmann|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] tdeck|5 months ago|reply
Apparently armed, masked thugs covered in body armor dragging people off the street for the federal government count as a "vulnerable group" now?
[+] [-] 0xy|5 months ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] antfarm|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] b00ty4breakfast|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] argsnd|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] cs_throwaway|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] buyucu|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] alexandre_m|5 months ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] 1970-01-01|5 months ago|reply
Google, name your non-vulnerable groups. Could those being taken away be considered a "vulnerable group" or a non-vulnerable group?
This is pure hypocrisy in the wild.
[+] [-] tdeck|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] kread|5 months ago|reply
In 2025 in USA?
[+] [-] ants_everywhere|5 months ago|reply
TikTok's initial rise predates the protests by about a year. But it explodes and overtakes other social media apps starting in 2019 and into 202.
[+] [-] K0balt|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] RobCodeSlayer|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] howieburger|5 months ago|reply
Am working on a mobile app that requires in person keygen/sharing via Bluetooth, syncs selected data between devices once keys exchanged and new local IP is shared (over something like Signal; discovery is hard/expensive so I am going with a low tech manual option to notify peers how to reconnect)
Flood the field with alternatives to keep The Man on his toes and distracted.
The main problem with hyper normalized and streamlined society is it just makes it easier for The Man to spot and squash dissent. What is dissent when the people are peacefully not following orders by making passive surveillance difficult.
[+] [-] pmdr|5 months ago|reply
The CEOs were all there at the inauguration. Is anyone really surprised that they're taking orders from this administration?
[+] [-] cmxch|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] captainkrtek|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] nerdponx|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] blfr|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] raffael_de|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] ajross|5 months ago|reply
But absolutely start a project under a permissive license. That's a great idea.
[+] [-] Y_Y|5 months ago|reply
There's precious little reason to distribute as an app, except for exploiting the user. If all you wanted to do was show things on a map then the web is already well set up for that. In fact the apps are probably just embedding a web browser anyway (haven't checked).
I'm no fan of ICE, but I wouldn't trust these developers either.
[+] [-] jmclnx|5 months ago|reply
Maybe a PITA to use compared to a app, but at least it could not be banned.
[+] [-] tdeck|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Waterluvian|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] ranger_danger|5 months ago|reply
Doxxing of federal employees' personal information in certain circumstances is technically illegal (but many people think it isn't): https://www.robertreeveslaw.com/blog/doxing-arrested/
But publishing location information of where authorities happen to be in public at a certain time... I don't think is actually illegal. The Apple app author also believes he is 100% legal and is seeking to go to court over this.
https://www.kpbs.org/news/science-technology/2025/10/03/lega...
[+] [-] arnath|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] nsxwolf|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] qwerty_clicks|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] buyucu|5 months ago|reply
These restictions will give governments total control over what apps you can run on your phone.
[+] [-] ChrisArchitect|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] netfortius|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Blackthorn|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] rkomorn|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] myko|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] ath3nd|5 months ago|reply
Is a quote often wrongly attributed to Mr. Fascism Benito Mussolini himself, but whoever said it had made a damn good point. Be aware that what you are seeing now fits the exact and precise definition of fascism.
It's amusing seeing the US descend so quickly in pure unadulterated fascism and the amount of denial and attempts to sugar coat it or window dress in places like HN. Then forums like this will go dark, and next thing you know, the brownshirts from the modern Gestapo/Stasi/ICE would be knocking on your door.
Make no mistake about Google and Apple: moderating anti fascist apps or content is abetting fascism (that applies to HN mods as well).
[+] [-] tdeck|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] nsxwolf|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] K0balt|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] EdiX|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] myko|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Zak|5 months ago|reply
[+] [-] howieburger|5 months ago|reply
Entertainers are a kind of contemporary secular faith healer and tribal shaman, imo.
To mix metaphors, stopped clocks who can be right and worth listening to only in very specific situations.