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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday August 11 2019, @03:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the again? dept.

Make way for another antitrust investigation into big tech. Step forward Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which has opened an official probe of Apple — following a complaint lodged in March by security company Kaspersky Labs.

Kaspersky's complaint to FAS followed a change in Apple's policy towards a parental control app it offers, called Kaspersky Safe Kids. Discussing the complaint in a blog post the security firm says Apple contacted it in 2017 to inform it that the use of configuration profiles is against App Store policy, even though the app had been on Apple's store for nearly three years without it raising any objections.

Apple told Kaspersky to remove configuration profiles from the app — which it says would require it to remove two key features that makes it useful to parents: Namely, app control and Safari browser blocking.

It also points out that the timing of Apple's objection followed Apple announcing its Screen Time feature, in iOS 12 — which allows iOS users to monitor the amount of time they spend using certain apps or on certain websites and set time restrictions. Kaspersky argues Screen Time is "essentially Apple's own app for parental control" — hence raising concerns about the potential for Apple to exert unfair market power over the store it also operates by restricting competition.

We've reached out to Apple for comment on the FAS investigation. The company referred Reuters to a statement it made in April about its policy towards parental control apps, following other complaints.

In the statement Apple says it removed several such apps from the App Store because they "put users' privacy and security at risk" — calling out the use of what it described as "a highly invasive technology called Mobile Device Management" (MDM).

But Kaspersky claims its app does not, and never did, use MDM.

Also at CNet


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:00PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:00PM (#878934)

    Shit, like water, seeks it's own level. [...]

    Yep.

    How to steal a city: Montes v. City of Yakima - https://www.aclu-wa.org/cases/montes-v-city-yakima-0 [aclu-wa.org]

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Offtopic=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Offtopic' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:03PM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday August 11 2019, @07:03PM (#878936) Journal

    Why spam this link but provide no commentary as to why we should care?

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:44PM (2 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Sunday August 11 2019, @09:44PM (#878980)

      It looks like the site has been invaded by a bunch of (or maybe just one) troll idiot.

      I have seen several "JEWS" type idiot rambling in the previous couple of discussions.

      I hope we don't wind up with pages and pages of moron spam, like other sites I could mention.

      • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:05AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:05AM (#879011)

        Wait a bit and Elon Musk will.invent a spam filter.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @04:09PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @04:09PM (#879264)

          4/5 Australians hate him!!!

    • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday August 12 2019, @02:37PM

      by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday August 12 2019, @02:37PM (#879200) Journal

      Speculating, because it gets more hits that way? At least initially before recognizing it and downmodding it as offtopic for the spamlink, no matter how relevant an above comment might be...

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      This sig for rent.