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Comment by anigbrowl | Hacker News Reader

I hate posts like this. The app has been removed from the Google play store, so now we have no way to look at the marketing materials and offer suggestions for how they might be changed or what the problem might be. Yes, app stores should be more responsive, but there's no point in wringing your hands saying 'what could be the problem' when you leave readers in the dark like this. At least paste in the original marketing copy or hunt down an archived screenshot of your store page or something.

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I did manage to copy all the reviews and store description before it got taken down. Here it is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SGy3goNVFC7zKWn0Rm10pOMb...

Based on that description, it absolutely sounds like a covert surveillance application, and I can completely understand why it was removed:

* "automatically watches every website you visit and app you use"

* "Very difficult to circumvent"

* "Option to remove the icon in the status bar"

* "Accountability partners are notified if you ever disable the app"

While the intended purpose may not be surveillance, it ends up being very well suited for that role.

I don't have the link handy but this reminds me of the guy who made a Gift Card to Bitcoin exchange that started to get a lot of traffic and he was surprised that this was a common path for money launderers.

Thanks for that responsive reply. That makes it much easier to understand your situation.

My concern is where the pivot point is. Sure Google should remove if any APPs' idea is to spy people. However that made Google/APPLE too much power over developers or users. What if I want my dog has a smart phone spy mode: "on" so I can find him when he's lost?

If giant companies can control what you can publish today, they can control what layout you should have on your APPs next week, they can control what contents is allowed next month, then they can decide if you are allow to communicate before you even noticed.

But you could already set your dog up with a smartphone and turn location tracking on. In fact I was looking at that exact setting on my Android phone today, and as a dog woner who sometimes looks after other people's dogs I have thought about this functionality, to go in a small collar device or something.

but that's not spy ware. Spy ware is where you report on location or something but conceal that from the person using the phone.

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