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0 pointsWowfunhappy2y ago0 comments

> Frankly, I think Apple should have just allowed third party app stores without any guarantee of malware/fraud protection, let consumers decide for themselves if they want to risk it or not.

Apple did not do this because consumers do not value malware and fraud protection nearly as much as Apple would like everyone to believe.

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mh8h2y ago

It's not that they don't value it. It's more like they aren't aware of the risks.

WowfunhappyOP2y ago

Maybe that's true, and consumers don't know what's best for them. However, we live in a free society, where consumers are supposed to be able to decide for themselves what they value, and spend their money accordingly.

Where we do impose regulations to ensure public safety, they are decided by a democratic process. And as imperfect as that process may be at times, it is better than letting a single for-profit corporation set the terms.

gms2y ago

Consumers are indeed able to decide for themselves: they can buy any number of Android phones from many manufacturers for a different experience.

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mrmanner2y ago

> we live in a free society, where consumers are supposed to be able to decide for themselves what they value, and spend their money accordingly

…except if they value a device that enforces audited software only, because they find it safe and convenient. If they value that they’re wrong, because wanting that is unfair to some businesses who want to sell them things.

> it is better than letting a single for-profit corporation set the terms

This is sort of true, government regulation is better than a single corporation dictating terms. But it’s not that relevant, is it? There are two major corporations in the mobile OS business. Plus a bunch of open source projects and a few small businesses for the adventurous. And web standards making it reasonably possible to not depend on any one of them, if that’s a priority.

Are the big technology companies powerful? Yes. Should they be regulated? Yes. Like this? Probably not.

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HumblyTossed2y ago

> It's more like they aren't aware of the risks.

I doubt that. Decades of having to run malware (removal) software on Windows has pretty much guaranteed everyone knows what a virus is.

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