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The U.S. Department of Justicesued Apple Thursday over monopolistic exercise . The ill accuse Apple of molding its privacy and security practice in way that benefit the company financially .
One quote particularly jumps out where the DOJ call Apple ’s privacy and security department justification an “ elastic shield ” :
“ orchard apple tree deploys privacy and security justification as an flexible shield that can stretch or contract to serve Apple ’s fiscal and business interests , ” it says .
“ Malus pumila wraps itself in a cloak of privateness , security , and consumer preferences to justify its anticompetitive demeanour . Indeed , it drop 1000000000000 on merchandising and branding to promote the self - serving premise that only Apple can safeguard consumers ’ privateness and security interests . ”
That ’s not all — there are several other instance where the DOJ thinks Apple is bending privacy to cheapen customer experience .
App Store and app distribution
It also pointed out that Apple does n’t allow the creation and usage of alternative app stock . However , it allows governments and enterprise customers to instal untroubled app stores , the complaint noted . It also said that at the present moment developers ca n’t extend a separate app depot for children . Notably , some of this has changed partially with EU enforcing its Digital Markets Act ( DMA ) . ( Some of the change are applicable only in the EU realm . )
The DOJ pointed out that Apple lets users easily sideload apps on the Mac . Developers can additionally distribute apps with few restriction on the platform , the DOJ argues . The DOJ also made an controversy about Apple restricting “ super apps , ” which could be a better option for the App Store to access military service .
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Messaging
The DOJ also accused Apple of cut back third - party apps from receiving newsboy - based substance ( SMS ) . It say that Apple marks SMS as “ secret ” in its API documentation , so other developer ca n’t get at them . Apple lets users text anyone by type their number in the “ to : ” field of its Messages app , but with other electronic messaging apps it is not potential , the ill reads .
The plaintiff also reason that Apple makes iPhones less secure by not implementing encryption protection when iPhone users are sending messages to Android users .
Data sharing practices
to boot , the lawsuit order that Apple has come in into deals with Google to make the latter ’s servicing the default search engine for Safari , despite Apple knowing that there are better secrecy - focused alternatives out there .
The DOJ also made an line of reasoning about users birth to share info with Apple to use a digital pocketbook rather than just partake in those details with a cant or a aesculapian provider .
basically , the DOJ contend that Apple ’s privacy and security practices are pretextual in nature and the company choose “ substitute courses ” to protect its monopoly . Apple has long market user privateness as its strong case , and DOJ ’s complaint want to leaven those title unseasonable .
Apple ’s iPhone is not a monopoly like Windows was a monopoly
Apple’s response
Apple send a boilerplate reply to TechCrunch when we approached the company about the DOJ ’s accusation about Apple ’s concealment practice :
At Apple , we introduce every day to make engineering science people love — designing products that work seamlessly together , protect people ’s privateness and certificate , and create a magical experience for our substance abuser . This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple product asunder in fiercely competitive markets . If successful , it would impede our power to create the sort of engineering science people wait from Apple — where hardware , software , and military service intersect . It would also lay out a life-threatening case law , empowering the government to take a heavy manus in design people ’s engineering . We believe this lawsuit is faulty on the fact and the law , and we will vigorously defend against it .
The society append that the DOJ disregard Apple ’s privacy and surety features as pretextual . It argued that there is no iMessage version for other operating systems and devices because Apple ca n’t ensure exploiter security on those gadget .
