All your suggestions lead to a terms of service violation for the Icon Factory and would likely result in their Apple developer accounts being banned, especially if Elon wanted to pursue it.
Getting their developer accounts banned would affect their other products, as well as any future products.
Aside from all the above, the vast majority of their Twitterrific customers doesn't understand API keys and will complain and request app and subscription refunds, likely also leading to developer account problems.
Falken's Law applies here: The only winning move is not to play.
Although they'd take a lot of flack for it, Apple and Google should really be more liberal with the ban hammer. If it can be proved that you're doing stupid things like this, your dev account should be revoked.
Their app would be pulled from the store. You do business in the App Store at Apple's pleasure. Attempting to flout the spirit of their asinine rules is unlikely to be successful.
Which is the reason why they were willing to get banned from the App Store. They'd never risk that otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a collaboration between companies to to this.
I'd agree more if he didn't submit — and get approved — a working exploit in their store. Without telling them about it.
Edit: Now, I don't disagree that just banning him from the program isn't a great idea, and that pulling the app and having someone from the security team send him an email isn't a better one. But it's hard to say this that a bad move on Apple's part.
I'm probably going to get like a hundred downvotes for this, but don't develop for Apple. There rules are not clear, and they ban apps based on their whim. Especially if you are famous and a threat to their current or future apps.
They’ve spent many hours on this already and been denied. I don’t know why you think they’ll get their account unblocked, but I disagree.
I expect the best that can happen is a small claims court victory thereby getting their money back, but not their software. And that might also be followed by a lifetime ban by Apple.
Most developers just get that app removed (unless they egregiously operated in bad faith). If they then sued Apple, you bet they would get their account suspended in the mean-time too.
Never mind the app, if Apple were smart, they'd punitively ban the developer and everybody associated with it from being on the App store forever. Or some number of years, anyway
This is a great argument for union-like organization of independent Apple-ecosystem developers. If one member gets banned in an arbitrary and capricious manner, the others can strike, by pulling their programs from the App Store.
If hitting the front page of HN is really the best way to get a substantial response from Apple after a drawn-out runaround, that cries out for a counterweight organization to Apple that can punch back and actually make it hurt.
All your suggestions lead to a terms of service violation for the Icon Factory and would likely result in their Apple developer accounts being banned, especially if Elon wanted to pursue it.
Getting their developer accounts banned would affect their other products, as well as any future products.
Aside from all the above, the vast majority of their Twitterrific customers doesn't understand API keys and will complain and request app and subscription refunds, likely also leading to developer account problems.
Falken's Law applies here: The only winning move is not to play.
reply