

Facebook deletes iPhone apps from its system - mcantelon
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20002481-37.html?part=rss

======
DenisM
I think I know what happened - this is the fallout from iPad facebook story.

On day one of iPad there was some app called "Facebook" for $3 which wasn't
really the app from Facebook itself, but some dude making a quick buck.
Apparently some big wig then issued instructions "clear up our name usage on
iPad/iPhone" and someone else implemented it via

SEND_TAKEDOWN_NOTICE(query("SELECT * FROM apps WHERE name LIKE
'%facebook%'")).

~~~
theBobMcCormick
I thought the iPhone app approval process was supposed to prevent that kind of
thing?

~~~
DenisM
Apple will do the basic, honest attempt to prevent trampling on others
trademarks but it's not an outright bannination.

In general with social networking its a gray area - if an app is a twitter
client does it have a reason to have "twitter" in the name? It surely does. If
I was Apple I would promptly react to mark holder complains rather than
proactively deny things.

I would also make exception for major marks - I would contact them proactively
and ask for guidance. And then if I was Facebook from before the iPad incident
I would say "it's cool, let it slide - we'll deal with it later if there is
ever a real problem".

------
oldgregg
Deja vu. Back before Zuck gave his awkward f8 platform speech I built an app
called FaceFreaks... even though their DEMO application was called "MochaBook"
they later shut down all the apps that had "Face" or "Book" in the name. The
moment I got that email I decided I would never _depend_ on another platform
again. Since then it's become clear to everyone that you're borderline mad if
you do.

"Open data" is a joke. the same human beings who ran AOL in 94 are running
Facebook today. Their openness was only a competitive advantage they used to
build their business (much more open than match.com or AOL profiles). Just
because we all read reddit and hackernews we shouldn't delude ourselves into
thinking people are somehow nicer or more open now out of goodwill. They are
only open to the degree it supports their business model, period.

One day someone will out-open facebook. Imagine facebook without any privacy
controls and no way to manage your personal online "brand" -- it's coming, but
it won't be out of altruism.

------
puredemo
I never understand it when companies take this sort of unexpected and
unilateral action. As long as no one is acting in bad faith, how hard is it to
contact developers first and let them know what changes need to be made rather
than simply deleting their accounts?

~~~
pyre
Actually it sounds worse than that:

    
    
      NodConcept's Chris Diskin, makers of the Emoti for
      Facebook app, said he was contacted via e-mail on
      Monday by Apple saying that Facebook believed his
      app was infringing on their rights. They provided
      him with contact info at Facebook and said he had
      five days to resolve the issue.
    
      Diskin told CNET that he immediately called Facebook
      and was told they would get back to him to explain
      the issue. They never contacted him, instead choosing
      to delete his developer credentials from the system.
    

They bothered to give him time to fix a problem that they didn't bother to
specify. When he asked them for specifics, they blew him off.

------
Terretta
After a careful reading of the article, Facebook shot down developers/apps
with Facebook in the name or using the Facebook icon.

I would assume this is in response to the horrifically bad "Facebook Ultimate"
app that was top in social paid apps on iPad launch day:

[1] <http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/04/fake-ipad-facebook/>

[2]
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7560417/Unoff...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7560417/Unofficial-
Facebook-app-withdrawn-amid-iPad-user-confusion.html)

I'd read the reviews to see how the 7th highest app had a single star -- all
were excoriating. But people saw the icon and name and clicked Buy in droves.

Facebook did the right thing by putting a kibosh on it and any others that
might come up with a search for Facebook or spotted with a Facebook "f" icon.

~~~
Batsu
> Facebook did the right thing by putting a kibosh on it and any others that
> might come up with a search for Facebook or spotted with a Facebook "f"
> icon.

Lots of people will come out and say that including the name and the icon is a
minor thing, but this is exactly why it's more than that. It's similar to how
searching google for "Facebook login" brings up a blog post with a few hundred
comments about trying to log into facebook.

Edit: doing that search now has several sites right up top now for "Facebook
Login Help" and such. I don't remember those being there before.

------
pyre
They try to make themselves out as the good guys that are fighting for the
rights and privacy of their users:

    
    
      "We ensure that applications that access Facebook user
      data adhere to Facebook Platform policies," Facebook's
      representative Malorie Lucich said in an e-mail to
      CNET. 
    

But really they are only being petty over small issues:

    
    
      Diskin finally got a call late Tuesday saying he is
      infringing on Facebook's rights because he uses the
      word "Facebook" in his app name to let people know
      what it does.

------
kmak
Not an iPhone developer, so let me know if this does not make any sense.

Is the Facebook public key hardcoded on the app? Since presumably the app
needs Facebook to run, they need to be connected to the internet, so maybe
there could've been some phone home page where the app gets the key (caches it
for some amount of time) and uses that -- it won't fix the issue of Facebook
revoking keys, but at least if it gets fixed (with Facebook) you don't have to
resubmit an app and wait for Apple.

~~~
tjarratt
I doubt either facebook or developers would be willing to expose their
developer credentials / keys on a (mostly) publicly readable page. Embedding
it into the app itself seems like the most reasonable solution.

~~~
kmak
I replied to the other thread, but basically, you're not supposed to put your
private key on your iPhone app anyhow, as it can be taken. As for the public
key, it is obviously public anyhow.

------
scott_s
Companies that have an application ecosystem that depends on external
developers need to explicitly state how applications can say "This is an _X_
app" and what, if any, icons they can use.

I would think it's in Facebook's interest to give out a set of app icons, or
to have an app naming policy.

