Look it this way if they said that they weren´t sure it was compliant almost nobody would update unless they were kinda suicidal and startapp would really sink, so it is a marketing strategy to say “We are 100% Google complaint” because there lawyers think it is by reading the new Google Policy. And even if they contacted Google i don´t think they got a straight and clear answer and got something like a robot answer like us developers get when we ask things
One reason Google can’t say this in advance is that they cannot be certain what the ad network is doing.
The extreme high danger from this whole process is PRECISELY because of Google banning policy - i.e. “we ban you, then we track you so you, your relatives or anyone in your house ALSO cannot become a developer”.
It is this archaic Nazi/Communist-party style (Kafkaesque) behavior which is responsible for all this pressure on these other issues. Developer are burned and they do not want to risk anything.
What is the definition of kafkaesque? - Yahoo! Answers
Kafkaesque
In short there is a bit of “manipulation” going on here as well - Google benefits from this uncertainty as it is benefitting it’s own ad network. The situation is crying out for a class-action lawsuit by NOT the ad networks (because it will be very hard to prove - since ad networks don’t directly interact with Google) - it has to be a DEVELOPER class-action suit (possibly backed by ad networks with their cash) - to open up the developer banning process and more importantly to institute an un-banning procedure.
The reason this has not been done so far is because the ad networks are not directly linked to Google - and so they have chosen to ride for free off the backs of developers who have had to face the fire from Google.
Unfortunately (for the ad networks) this will not go on for much longer now. As developers (facing a situation not unlike real-life life-and-death where if you are “dead” you are “dead” - unless you believe in reincarnation) - here if as a developer Google says (with a stroke on the bottom of their chin) that “you are dead to me” - then you are dead. Google will track you via IP, e-mail, gmail and in every conceivable way (no doubt gotten some confidence from having worked with the government on similar lines perhaps) - and they will identify repeat developers.
The point being that if there is ANY indication that a new developer is remoted linked to an earlier developer - that is suitable reason to be banned. There is NO COST to Google - so in this modern age, a very old world behavior of pinning a Scarlett Letter goes on:
The Scarlet Letter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The developer must wear the letter “A” (for “asshole” I assume in Google’s eyes) once they are condemned by Google.
So basically ad networks thought they could use the developers - but now the situation is such that developers WILL NOT (thanks to Google’s iron-clad structure) test anything new unless they are SURE that the ad network qualifies.
Ad networks will not be able to themselves get their practices “qualified” by Google - because for one they are competitors (Google’s Admob - and ads IS Google’s main business) - and secondly such qualification would necessarily RESTRICT ad networks’ ability to innovate/modify (as each change would require qualification at Google).
What is clearly required to break this impasse is GREATER developer control of the situation - and that means some developer group needs to SUE Google to gain access to the Google Play store - or if nothing else to REQUIRE (by Court order) that Google establish some processes for how developers are judged/reinstated etc. OR (horror of horrors) to ensure that every Android ships with a competing app store.
I think REALISTICALLY that is what is eventually going to happen - if sufficient challenge is mounted - the likely solution IS going to be the creation of alternate App Stores and their promotion - or a REQUIREMENT that any mobile device sold in U.S. (as court could only force for a certain region) has to include a competing App Store.
This exposes another weakness in this whole situation - as it unearths another player - the mobile phone manufacturers - eventually the solution will have to come from them including multiple App Stores. But they have not figured into our discussion above. So rather than go after Google, perhaps the answer is to INSTEAD go after (I know this would be non-obvious to some) the mobile manufacturers and to force them to include multiple App Stores on their phones.
This raises further questions - the quality of alternative app stores - and mobile phone manufacterers will understandably mount a challenge to this.
The ones which COULD have legitimate claim to being “safe” app stores are:
- Amazon
- Samsung
- GetJar
So the solution (oddly enough) would be ad networks forcing (via developer front group perhaps) the mobile phone manufacturers to ship mobile phones with new App Store alternatives already in place.
This will have the double-advantage of curtailing a potential threat from mobile manufacturers - a tendency to move towards proprietary app stores (where they can charge exhorbitant cuts of the developer revenue etc.).
I wonder what would happen if all developers mounted a day of “blackout” i.e. ALL developer voluntarily unpublished their apps on a particular day (as a sign of protest against Google policies/unresponsiveness to e-mail from developers/ad-networks whatever).
There will be some who would not participate.
But if some big developers could be brought along - Rovio with Angry Birds - that would be interesting. Rovio launched Angry Birds on GetJar initially - and so there may be developers who are capable of such action.
However, there could be major flak in this area as Google could “retaliate” and punish developers who have done so - as I have said Google is operating with very old-world vendetta politics (in the absence of regulation on them this was going to happen anyway). Their mantra of “don’t be evil” is indicative of the power they CAN exercise - with time that mantra is fading from memory (both within Google and outside).
Agree with this, alternative market should become a concern for manufacturer, but one of the issue that need to be taken care of is that stupid fuck up antivirus company, because of their scanning and flagging, nowadays many app store are using antivirus company service to automatically scanning the submission process, and if almost all ad network are getting flagged by it, it mean we are doom.
I really wish they stop their shady business, its already hard becoming a developer without some stupid antivirus company making it worse
I think the most commonly seen issue is the Airpush “in-app SDK” being detected as virus by AVG Antivirus and Lookout Security apps. Other antivirus companies do not identify this SDK as a problem.
This is a case of a non-push SDK being mislabelled.
I cannot say regarding StartApp etc. as those are more intrusive than in-app SDKs.
However, Airpush is partly to blame for this - they use a .jar file that is generated individually for each developer. This is a way to bypass the Antivirus companies. It was probably designed earlier to help push ad SDK escape labelling by antivirus companies.
However when releasing a non-push SDK they should have opted for a KNOWN NAME .jar file - so it could be discussed or entered into the database of the antivirus companies.
So they too will have to probably revert back to known-name .jar files for their SDKs - so that antivirus companies can correctly label them as being non-virus.
fully compliance my butt. That custom lock screen is intrusive and thus bannable according to this:
“An app downloaded from Google Play (or its components or derivative elements) must not make changes to the user’s device outside of the app without the user’s knowledge and consent.” - Our EULA covers this part, and is very clear on the changes that are being made.
No offence but under other circumstances i would have definally tried your sdk. Basically what I’m trying to say here is that only interestrials and banner ads inside the app are allowed.
Is it confirmed that Google banned/will ban all the apps with startapp new sdk ? Are any one else getting banned?
So any news of somebody else getting banned because of startapp or any other out of the app ad network? Or was this an isolated case?
Yes, I’m just wondering also, anybody had a similar issue ? but judging by this thread that got buried in page 2-3, not much case of banned yet.