rorschachai

Apple’s next proposal should be to shut down the App Store in the Netherlands. Then these companies can use web apps with whatever payment providers they want and nothing owed to Apple.

Maybe the only thing a web app would lack that a dating app “needs” is notifications. But that is an easy feature to add since Safari already supports them on macOS.

JMaille said:

Without that revenue Apple will have to change it's business models.  Which means developer tools and interface access will be financed like on other platforms. 

Before the App Store, the annual fee for the developer program started at $499 and went up to, I believe, $1,499. Mac OS X upgrades also cost $129. People really believe they’re going to be able to have their cake and eat it too. 

rob53 said:

chris-net said:

The people who’s info is accessed should be told who accessed it, when, for what reason & under what authority. If doesn’t have to be real time, maybe a 90 day delay between access and notification. 

I think people will be much more mindful what they publish once they know they’ve been snooped on. 

If any of this is done without a legal order from a judge I want to know what law(s) is being broken or what laws allow them to monitor a free society the way this article is mentioning. I agree with your comment and I don’t want to have to file a FOIA to try and get it. This isn’t Nazi Germany, Russia or any other country that’s afraid of their citizens. 

If you give information to a company, they can share what you’ve given them. No different than if I called up a friend and said “I’m at the parking lot on X Street.” If the police go ask my friend where I was, they are free to tell the police what I said.

If you don’t want your information shared, don’t share it. Fortunately, to the chagrin of less scrupulous companies that want to vacuum up your data, Apple makes it easy to prevent sharing information you don’t want to share. Like location data. When Facebook asks for permission to see your location, say No!

dewme said:

Is anyone surprised by this in the very least? The Dutch authorities haven’t a clue about what they are doing and are totally unwilling to work with Apple to come up with a fair and equitable solution that doesn’t punish Apple for its success or impart risk on Apple’s customer base. 

Exactly. Why is it on Apple to figure out what the government wants? If they have something specific in mind, then just come out with it.

Companies choose to pay fines as a cost of doing business every day. They’ve done this forever. It’s nothing new and certainly not unique to Apple. If a monetary penalty is allowed as an alternative to taking some action that the government wants you to do, then anyone is going to weigh the cost of each and choose the cheaper option. Don’t like it? Find an alternative to levying a fine that will make complying the easier/cheaper option.

Put another way. If you’re getting mugged and the mugger says “Give me your wallet or I’ll kill you”, you’ll give them your wallet. If they say “Either give me your Rolex or give me your wallet”, and your wallet has more cash in it than the Rolex is worth, you’ll give them the Rolex.