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Comment by gshulegaard | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, no. Facebook had a cert for distributing internal apps. When one of their external projects was rejected by the App store, they used the internal cert to try and distribute it externally (circumventing the App Store). As a response Apple revoked the certificate that was being used in violation of its use agreement. There is nothing wrong with that action.

You're introducing a straw man argument by trying to make this about hardware ownership.

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With due respect, I think you misunderstand what a straw-man argument is. This is not a different point. This IS post purchase control of hardware.

Would you be ok with Tesla disabling cars because you were using illegal drugs in them? Now do you get it? I'm not defending facebook. I'm telling you this behavior from Apple is truly scary. Apple is not law/moral/societal enforcement "police".

This is the ONLY way to run internal apps. and it wasn't one cert btw. Google has a similar "research app", their certs have not been revoked. Maybe because apple relies on google more? Maybe because they generate revenue from their search and app placement deals? Hrrm?

My point is simple, arbitrary revokes, without process, are a scary thing. Specially when they are done POST purchase, and have real tangible effects.

You just put up a line of straw men.

Tesla disabling cars -- tell us how you feel about that!

using illegal drugs -- Wow, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

not defending facebook -- Are ya?

behavior from Apple is truly scary -- Elaborate.

Apple is not law/moral/societal enforcement "police". -- Right, they just wrote the EULA and have the right to deny service.

And funny enough.. my point was JUST proven [0]

Google does the SAME DAMN THING! and yet apple did not go heavy handed, because, well, money???

But its great to see how an informed crowd like HackerNews behaves just like any other inflamed mob.

[0]https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/30/googles-also-peddling-a-da...

Since Apple didn't catch Facebook either, but reacted half a day after the media report, I don't think taking this 3 hour old story as "Apple isn't doing anything to Google!!!" is reliable: We'll see what happens.

(replying to the reply of my comment, since threading doesn't go further)

Do you think apple does not have reports of the number of users that have apps installed via an enterprise cert?

That's pretty much the basic type of stats you would gather when having an enterprise licensing/authority system. Fact is, they knew about this, this was not hidden by google OR Facebook.

Apple decided to release this the DAY after they had a huge privacy flaw in Facetime.

Exactly this. I think Apple handles it perfectly on macOS: if you want to run an app downloaded outside of the App Store, you have to explicitly go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Allow apps downloaded from: anywhere. This provides a great mix of consumer protection against malicious code, and freedom for professionals to download and run anything on their machines. Disappointed in how they handle apps outside the 'walled garden' for iOS devices.

> This provides a great mix of consumer protection against malicious code, and freedom for professionals to download and run anything on their machines.

Android has something similar. Remember the Fortnite fiasco?

I can't say I do, no

Basically, people were tricked into installing fake Fortnite APKs.

Yeah, but if you don't err on the side of freedom, then you're basically supporting Apple-style totalitarianism.

I'm glad that Microsoft's business model won out in the PC wars and I look forward to a time when Apple loses again in their home field. As a power user, I can't stand the amount of control has over my own hardware. In my profession, I can't afford to ignore Apple though. I really hope they lose their anti-trust case!

> if you want to run an app downloaded outside of the App Store, you have to explicitly go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Allow apps downloaded from: anywhere.

You can just right click the app and choose “Open”. That deliberate action will allow you to open an app from an unidentified developer without changing your Gatekeeper preferences.

It's not the only way to run internal apps: They can also install them through XCode. Also, the revokation was in no way arbitrary, but due to a grave violation of the terms under which the certificate was obtained.

I mean, sure. Try managing thousands of devices that way though. lol

True! That's why there's enterprise certificates to make the process easier. Facebook just shouldn't have abused theirs for nefarious purposes!

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