App Auto-Tweets False Piracy Accusations 231
An anonymous reader writes "Certain iPhone and iPad applications from a Japanese company have broken software piracy detection mechanisms that are sending out tweets on the user's own Twitter account, saying, 'How about we all stop using pirated iOS apps? I promise to stop. I really will. #softwarepirateconfession.' The trouble is, it's sending these out on accounts of users who actually paid up to $50 or more for the software and who are legally using it. The app is asking for access to users' Twitter accounts, but does not give the reason why it is asking, so the author of the article concluded (rightly) that things were being done deliberately. Would you want your legally purchased software to send out messages to all of your contacts on Twitter or on other social networks saying that you were a software pirate? Would you excuse the writers of the software if it was just an error in their piracy detection measures?"
Re:App permissions (Score:5, Informative)
If I were one of those folks, I would follow these steps [gizmodo.com] to register a complaint with Apple. Just saying.
The company's name is Enfor. Ask for a refund. (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, would it be so hard to include that in the article?
The company you want to avoid from now on is called "Enfor", and they deserve to have this bullshit rubbed in their face. If you want to sock 'em in the gut, email Apple and explain to them what happened after you legitimately purchased the app, and ask for a refund. I'm sure this is breaking one of their SDK rules somewhere, but even if it isn't- they have a walled garden to protect legitimate users from this kind of crap. When stuff like this gets past them, it makes Apple look bad as well as the company who wrote it.
So email Apple and tell them how you feel about this betrayal of trust. Tell them the app has publicly humiliated/embarrassed you, that you want a refund, and that this whole situation has shaken your confidence in Apple's walled garden. If enough people do this, Apple will turn around and tear a strip off Enfor- either by freely issuing refunds to anyone who asks for it, or by taking down the offending apps (goodbye sales!), or by banning the developer.
Re:Economics (Score:5, Informative)
How do we know it is falsely claiming that the users are pirates?
Because at least one instance of a false positive is known. The guy has the receipt. Nothing else matters; the guy is not a pirate.
The guy in the link admits to using Installus which is an application specifically crafted for piracy.
How does that change the fact that the guy has paid his dues with regard to the dictionary? Even if he pirated all other applications - which he denies - this doesn't give the dictionary a right to accuse the owner of anything. Besides, the guy claims that he needed Installus for a legitimate purpose: " you can use it to go back to an older version of an app you legally own. This is otherwise impossible in iOS."
Re:The company's name is Enfor. Ask for a refund. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Looks like it might have been pirated after all (Score:5, Informative)
Except that he explained the reasoning for having Installous on a jailbroken phone, and others have rung in saying that Installous isn't what's flagging it, or the only reason.
There is no rational for having installous on a jailbroken phone other that to install pirated apps.
TFA:
When Scanner Pro, which I also legally own, introduced a bug in the app that made the app stop working completely on my device. Installous lets you browse a list of available pirated versions of the app, which also means you can use it to go back to an older version of an app you legally own.
Does the above says something about your rational abilities? Naaahh... a simpler explanation exists: who the hell bother to actually RTFA?
Re:App permissions (Score:4, Informative)
However the browser is not a perfect interface. You need to scroll around, to zoom in, to zoom out... even a simple application that has only one input field and one output area will be a huge timesaver.
I can't speak for Japanese dictionary sites, but dictionary.com's mobile site [dictionary.com] is pretty straightforward--no pinching or zooming required.
Re:App permissions (Score:4, Informative)
In fact, when searching for articles on iOS malware this is what one finds:
http://www.mactrast.com/2012/11/report-android-gingerbread-most-malware-prone-mobile-os/ [mactrast.com]
"much still remains to be done before Android users can sleep as soundly as iOS users do."
and:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/07/05/researchers-say-iphone-users-hit-with-app-stores-first-ever-spam-sending-app/ [forbes.com]
The first EVER spam app hit the iPhone just this year - and was very promptly removed from the App Store.
"Just as antivirus researchers congratulated Apple for keeping the iPhone free of nasty apps five full years after its release, spammers seem to have finally tarnished that spotless record."
So I think it's fair to say that while not perfect (and who is?) that iOS has really done a remarkable job keeping the malware off it's platform. Android has gotten better and I freely admit that, and it's a good thing. But it's definitely not up to snuff quite yet compared to the competition in that particular area.
Re:Who would pay $50 for an iOS App? (Score:2, Informative)
My boring anecdote.
Traveling on I-87 northbound and we got stuck in traffic. Stop and Go snail pace traffic.
Out comes a shiny glittering wonder of the world iphone with a 50$ map/direction/traffic application. "This is the BEST EVAAAR, DUDE!" the guy said. "Let me get us out of here". Everybody rejoiced. Alas, the joy did not last long. The app had no idea about the current traffic that we were sitting in.
Out comes an android. Not so shiny, mind you. It had this free little known map application called Google Maps. Not only it showed the "red" lines for next 20 miles, it also showed all the small roads with few of the "green" ones. Lo and Behold - we were out of the traffic and on our way.
The dude is now using his shiny iphone with the latest and greatest mapping app EVAAR called Apple maps. Oh the irony!