Terms muzzle developers, claims EFF

The license agreement for the iPhone Developer Program contains some draconian terms, says the Electonic Frontier Foundation. The group recently used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the license from NASA, a government body which like many has its own iPhone app. Although the document is outdated in that it comes from March of last year, the EFF notes that one of the terms of the agreement is that developers are normally banned from talking about it publicly.

Apple has also given itself the ability to reject any app for any reason, even though the company nominally accepts any title that meets App Store rules. Thousands of apps have been blocked or removed in recent weeks because of shifts in Apple policy. Apple has moreover put a prohibition on any kind of reverse engineering, or circumventing the security or DRM of any Apple product, whether directly or indirectly by helping others.

The company additionally reserves to right to revoke the certificate of an app at any time. Nominally a security measure, the EFF notes that this can still disable an app a person has already installed. On top of this Apple has limited its liability to developers to no more than $50, which the EFF claims could be very damaging if Apple makes a mistake, such as accidentally disabling a program or leaking private information.

The group does acknowledge that the terms are not uncommon for end-user agreements, but also points out that they apply to over 100,000 developers. Apple can only get away with this scale because it is the lone gatekeeper for the iPhone, the EFF adds, acting as a "jealous and arbitrary feudal lord." Alternate app stores and/or pressure from developers and consumers may be needed to force Apple to open up its terms, the group suggests.

by MacNN Staff