ICE-tracking app developers aren’t giving up

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-took-down-ice-tracking-apps-their-developers-arent-giving-up/

by BallsInIt • 10 months ago

68 30 10 months ago

leakycap6• 10 months ago

Tim Cook has lost all credibility after his kowtowing to the trump administration. Apple needs a new leader, and not the guy who sheepishly launched the $999 monitor stand.

It's hard to escape using Apple devices, but the company's actions under trump have made me into a consumer open to other options.

If the Apple phone and the Chinese-brand are both going to bow to their respective authoritarian government, it makes the cheaper, better spec'd non-Apple options much more appealing.

bigyabai5• 10 months ago

I don't know where people got the impression that Apple seriously resisted government coercion. Their company is right there in the PRISM leaks, and Senator Wyden called them out (alongside Google) on backdooring Push Notifications years ago.

Didn't people want Apple's thoughtful, executive curation? If you're still not switching phones, what gives? Apple won this fight years ago, I'm shocked that we only now see people lift pitchforks and complain. You fought for your ability to resist sideloading and this is your just deserts. It's the phone you wanted.

leakycap6• 10 months ago

I don't know where people got the impression that Apple seriously resisted government coercion

I think it was either the way they added the two-button passcode lock that can be done without pulling the phone out of your pocket, the San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone (2016), Apple's resistance to the UK's backdoor requirement in ADP, or maybe when they wouldn't unlock the Pensacola Shooter's iPhone (2019), Apple's methods to resisting China's demand for iCloud Master Key multiple times, or the constant updates like disabling biometric unlock after being disconnected from cell networks for a certain number of hours.

Senator Wyden called them out (alongside Google) on backdooring Push Notifications years ago.

Apple's notification framework is wildly different than Google's Android method. Apple's notifications can be anonymous (hence the article we're commending on!) but Google's cannot.

Didn't people want Apple's thoughtful, executive curation?

The app store doesn't promise curation in the sense of a museum store... it's more running the apps through a pre-check before offering to customers. It's safety, not sales appeal, at least mostly.

If you're still not switching phones, what gives?

The alternatives are many times worse. Have you ever actually looked at what iOS collects vs Android?!

I'm shocked that we only now see people lift pitchforks and complain.

We're upset about ICE apps being removed and Apple giving gold chunks to wannabe dictators. That didn't happen until recently.

You fought for your ability to resist sideloading and this is your just deserts.

Google is also fighting sideloading. What phone maker are you imagining exists today and makes phones that don't have this issue?

raw_anon_11113• 10 months ago

Switch phones to what? A company whose entire business model is tracking and selling ads that also took the app offline?

cranberryturkey• 10 months ago

PWA baby!

tfwnopmt• 10 months ago

Why not make a PWA? What does a full app offer that a PWA can't?

JumpCrisscross• 10 months ago

Just make it a website. The PWA brand doesn’t really work anymore, outside developer circles.

gdulli• 10 months ago

Access to a passive user base that only knows of the App Store and software they've been given permission to run.

pbh101• 10 months ago

https://daringfireball.net/2025/07/iceblock

01HNNWZ0MV43FF• 10 months ago

To maintain anonymity and store zero user data, there is and can be no web app version of ICEBlock. There is and can be no Android version. Only iOS supports the security and privacy features for ICEBlock to offer what it does, the way it does.

I don't know if that's true but that's their claim

k3102• 10 months ago

Do not obey in advance

Historian Timothy Snyder’s first lesson in his book On Tyranny is “Do not obey in advance.” To obey a tyrant before you are compelled to do so teaches them what they will be able to get you to do, easily, without even needing to expend the resources and energy it takes to carry out that part of their agenda.

mieses2• 10 months ago

I like this tactic - when my enemy is using it.

People vs tyrant thinking ignores the world beyond your bubble (your borders). Elegant in theory but impractical.

IT4MD• 10 months ago

But..but... the profits!

Who will think of the uber-wealthy?!?!?!

spacedcowboy• 10 months ago

Why does anything remotely critical of Trumps fascist regime get [flagged] on Hacker News ?

resters• 10 months ago

Probably fear of retribution or Garry being politically conservative himself. Garry has repeatedly called for more authoritarian policing in the SF area.

k3102• 10 months ago

Trolls. I hadn't even noticed until I read your post.

inemesitaffia• 10 months ago

Because Bush was a fascist and McCain and Romney were going to be too.

mieses2• 10 months ago

What is the big deal about apps? Is the app store their cathedral? Why can't they use shady web sites like the rest of us common infidels?

ICE-tracking app developers aren’t giving up

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