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by Karunamon 4422 days ago
That doesn't clash at all. It's maximal freedom on both sides - you decide under what terms the developer's program runs. If the developer doesn't like those terms, the app doesn't run.

Either the user accepts the developers desired TOS on their device, and they get to run the app, or they do not.

I'd go a lower level than the legal contract. If the app says it wants X to run, and you deny X, the app is under no obligation to run. Your back yard, their code.
1 comments
mindslight 4422 days ago
As soon as it is on your device, it is no longer the developer's program, but your copy.

Ownership (as opposed to renting) enables distributed rights instead of centrally-granted privileges. Hoping that competition between centralized privilege-granters will compensate for a lack of true rights is an error based in the fallacy of efficient markets.

In reality, competition/enforcement is not perfect and defaults matter. To expand on the example I just gave, Honda could indeed require me to sign a contract saying I will not use the car to drive to a Toyota dealer. But with no way of stopping me, their only recourse is to exert resources bringing me to court. To be motivated to do so, they must be actually suffering real harm rather than a mere general desire of trying to prevent competition. So ridiculous ideas like that end up laughable non-starters rather than ever present niggling restrictions that are too numerous to fight.

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Karunamon 4422 days ago
Which is fine and dandy, just don't expect Google's or the developer's help to do so. I'll say it again - if one of the terms I license (sell a license) my app under is that it must have location data, you are entitled to either provide that data or not use the app.
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mindslight 4421 days ago
Yes sure, but you're just referencing the knows-best authoritarian thought that has gotten us into this mess in the first place. The current state of the "art" doesn't change what is right, so you're merely pointing out that Google's developers are not working to preserve users' freedom.

I'll say it to be clear - regardless of what you think your "terms" are, they're irrelevant to the functioning of my computational devices.

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