EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware [LWN.net]

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 24, 2010 16:22 UTC (Tue) by Aliasundercover (guest, #69009)
Parent article: EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Apple is a sharp outfit. The virus, spyware, crapware situation on Windows is so bad many people welcome Apple's apparently benevolent dictatorship with open arms. So what you can only install from their app store? You can install from there and your risk of malware is limited. The app meets at least some standards enforced by Apple. The patented methods would be used to protect Apple customers from thieves, a genuinely useful benefit.

Never mind that an app store with standards for quality and taste could exist without it being enforced. It could be just as good business, buy this brand and you never get crapware. That is worth money.

The thing is people are so sick of the battleground which is Windows software they are willing to trade freedom for safety. Perhaps they are enough afraid of thieves to want their computers watched over with the power to remotely disable them.

to post comments

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 24, 2010 16:50 UTC (Tue) by Trelane (guest, #56877) [Link] (2 responses)

The thing is people are so sick of the battleground which is Windows software they are willing to trade freedom for safety.

And the safety is temporary and ephemeral at best (see the fact that it's still possible to jailbreak the phone and exploit vulnerabilities in individual applications). Therefore, perhaps it's never in recent history been so apropos to quote the full-on Franklin quote:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 24, 2010 16:51 UTC (Tue) by Trelane (guest, #56877) [Link]

Crap. Quotation source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

There we go.

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 24, 2010 17:20 UTC (Tue) by Trelane (guest, #56877) [Link]

(glad to see that it looks like I used "aprops" correctly; the downside of a system where you can't go back and edit your posts is that it preserves your idiocy for all those in the future to go back and see how much of an idiot you truly are. ;)

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 24, 2010 19:17 UTC (Tue) by elanthis (guest, #6227) [Link] (4 responses)

Nobody shops on the App Store because it's more secure. They shop on the App Store because that's the only place to get apps on the phone.

That's like saying that users just love being routed into a Linux distro's central repository after already finding some software's website and a download link because the repository's safer, and not just because the Linux installation story is a user-hostile pain in the ass that saddles everyone with an artificially limited and out-dated set of packages unless you happen have the time and know-how to compile everything from source.

Or it's like saying that Windows users love viruses and malware and that's why they keep downloading Paint Shop Pro 9 Cracked!!~!! from DipshitForum.com and its ilk and then wonder why their computer is so slow and "needs replacing" every year.

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 24, 2010 23:31 UTC (Tue) by dilinger (subscriber, #2867) [Link]

Wait, what? The point of the distro's central repository is so that one can simply do "apt-get install $foo" and obtain a $foo that's been integrated with the system, and at least tested by someone other than the software's author. You're not required to use the central repository; you just can't expect to be able to mix-and-match software from the central repo and external sources. This isn't user-hostile, this is by design; see examples of "rpm hell" and "dll hell" for reasons why you'd want to stick to software from one source. Also note that you're not required to use the distribution; want stale-but-known packages? Use Debian Stable. Want more up-to-date but less-tested stuff? Use the latest Ubuntu release. Want to be able to compile and customize everything yourself? Use Slackware or Gentoo.

You're comparing apples to oranges.

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 25, 2010 0:34 UTC (Wed) by nicooo (guest, #69134) [Link]

Most viruses and malware come from "finding some software's website and a download link".

I'll stick with my artificially limited (tested) and out-dated (stable) packages.

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 25, 2010 5:28 UTC (Wed) by PaulWay (guest, #45600) [Link]

Ah, you must be using Debian "Outdated", er "Stable".

I have only rarely needed to use software of a version new enough to require manual compilation. I think for most people this is the case - the packages they get from their distro's repositories are 'up to date enough'. If you need up-to-the-minute packages, use Gentoo and recompile every day if you like. I've had friends who know nothing of programming learn how to build and make because they wanted the bleeding edge version of Inkscape, for example.

The process of making .deb and .rpm packages, and making an apt or yum repository, is now easy enough and well documented enough that it is trivial for any company to distribute their software this way. There is no reason why third-party companies and developers need supply programs as big separate tarballs or shar files that need to be compiled or executed in order to run software. If Adobe can offer a yum repository for their Flash plugin, then I think most other companies can do more to distribute their programs than just supply a tarball and hope the user is clever enough to install it.

But I agree with your thesis. Apple is all about lock-in, and people who believe otherwise are gradually learning the truth. For some of them it will be too late to save their data or their investment...

Have fun,

Paul

EFF: Apple seeking to patent spyware

Posted Aug 25, 2010 14:55 UTC (Wed) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784) [Link]

Your first paragraph is true, and stands firmly on its own truth; the analogies demean it.