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Codebreaker

Android can kill remotely

John Moe Jun 25, 2010

Kill apps that is. The app store for the Android mobile platform identified two apps that it says violated the store’s terms of services. They were created by “a security researcher for research purposes” and misrepresented what the app was for, not delivering on what was promised. The apps did not pose a malware threat but still against store policy. So not only were the apps taken down from the store, they were remotely deleted on users’ phones. Android went on to peoples’ phones and removed them.  Amazon caused some controversy last year when it removed illegal editions of (ironically) 1984 from Kindles. They later apologized but Android says this is just store policy. Make no mistake: we don’t own things any more, we just license them.

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