Topic: Google fails to learn from Amazon book deletion debacle.

[Nemesis]

Link to full article:

The other day Google might have reached into your phone and deleted one of your apps.

On the Android Developer blog, we learn why they deleted these apps. In Google’s own words:

    Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled [sic] the applications shortly after downloading them.

    After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided, per the Android Market Terms of Service, to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.

So OK, these apps weren’t useful to anyone, and sure enough, the Terms of Service says Google retains the right to remotely wipe apps (see section 2, paragraph 4). And as far as I’m aware, this is the first time they’ve exercised this right. They’ve removed apps from the Market plenty of times, generally for copyright violation. But this is the first time they’ve done a remote delete.

[knightstorm]

Granted, google has never been particularly big on respecting people's privacy, but why do something that alienates its consumers like that for no good reason?  Amazon at least was doing it to avoid getting sued for copyright infringement.

[Sirgod]

Google has really disappointed me this week.

Not going to say what, But they removed cached and well known political stories this week, cause it meshed with current political process.

In other words, they had a subject that had been poopood by a political party, and then when that subject became ok, they removed all the dissenting voices and articles.

It's that kind of revisionism I have came to hate from Google. I won't get into it anymore, since it is on the verge of H&S territory, But it is upsetting to say the least.

Stephen