3 down, 999.997 to go
oh crap another 6 opened up.
3 down, 1.000.003 to go
The US Department of Justice reports that three domains selling stolen Android applications have been seized in a combined operation by the FBI and international police. Visitors to applanet.net, appbucket.net, and snappzmarket.com hoping for hooky apps will be disappointed to see the FBI's warning page showing that the Feds …
The biggest thing that irks me right now is tech sites as well as the mainstream media stating the websites have been seized due to "piracy".
Wouldn't it be more accurate to state "accusations of piracy" until a court of law has decided on the matter. After all... you wouldn't seize an innocent website, hold it illegally for 12 months and then drop the case when you realise no crime has been committed... oh... you would..."
I've seen reports elsewhere which have the FBI saying the big problem is non-Google apps stores. This problem would go away if you could only get the apps through Google.
It would be sort of nice if every Android device supported the Google store. I suspect they get confused about Open Source as well.
The key word you need to focus on is "only". Mind you, I can imagine it wouldn't exactly break hearts at the googleplex if they had to write an announcement along the lines of "due to increasing pressure from the global law-enforcement community, from v5.2 onwards Android will no longer support third-party app stores"
"This problem would go away if you could only get the apps through Google."
Please, no! By this logic, the problem would "go away" if you couldn't run software at all, but that doesn't make it a good thing. The harm from having all software distribution in the hands of just a few companies seems greater than a few pirated apps, especially as the latter are still illegal anyway, and can be dealt with just the same (there's also nothing stopping someone uploading a pirated application to Google Play, just that Google would respond to a DMCA request where as a dodgy store wouldn't).
The freedom to download software anywhere, whether it's on Windows x86 or Android, is good for consumers and developers. Just this week, I've tried out Opera Mobile store, and am getting a whole load of extra downloads for my apps. I've also been browsing the wonderful F Droid, which is a great way to find open source, something you can't search for easily on Google Play (the only search being "paid" or "free", where the latter almost always turns out to be ad-ware that they don't admit to).
(I'm not sure if you were agreeing with the argument, or just saying what they thought ... but either way, I think it's a bad idea:))
Judging by all the "FBI" spam these days, I'm kind of amazed they can do anything. Maybe it's just a trap? By pretending the spammers have no respect, they're trying to lure the suckers without getting accused of entrapment?
Anyway, I still wish there were some effective anti-spam tools available. Among other features, the FBI could get monthly reports on the trends in spam that claims to be from the FBI. Maybe there'll be a slump next month as an indirect response to these arrests?
...why on Dawkins' green earth do people bother with these (possibly malware-infested) sites?
With DVDs I can understand feeling pissed off at those annoying, over the top, unskippable pieces of shite^Wpropaganda the b'stards force upon paying customers. But Android apps?
Where are the French and Italian flags? It WAS a joint operation, wasn't it? But, I must bow (but not butt bend over) to the possibility that:
a, you're 'merkun and despise the French or Italians and don't want them to diminish the grandeur of the FBI
b, you're French or Italian, and despise the F/I involvement for the risk of blow back that may spawn from cooperating with the FBI
c, WTF, I should just give up trying to figure you out....