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Apple reportedly cracking down on App Store pirates

by Steven Sande Jan 4th 2012 at 2:00PM

According to a post this morning on Ars Technica, Apple is taking legal measures to make it more difficult for pirated copies of App Store apps to make their way to the hands of iOS device owners. The company is sending takedown notices to Apptrackr, a site that commonly directs users to cracked versions of popular apps.

The takedown notices are being sent under the auspices of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is the US implementation of two treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Apptrackr developer "Dissident" says that Apple has scraped links from Apptrackr, and then sent takedown notices in an attempt to cut off access to the cracked apps. To combat Apple's anti-piracy efforts, Apptrackr has moved to servers outside of the US, and -- according to Ars -- is "using a form of redirection to avoid 'direct' links to infringing content."

Some developers have reported that piracy rates for their apps are as high as 80 percent, which would result in losses in the millions of dollars for individual developers and possibly billions of dollars to Apple. Apptrackr defends their activities by saying that their "service" is "for application trials, and nothing else." On the Apptracker site "About Us" page, Dissident claims that "pirates who do not choose to purchase the applications they install are not lost sales. They were very, very likely never potential customers in the first place. Piracy's conversion rate is absurdly low, and developers know that."

Regardless of how you personally feel about software piracy, it's fascinating to see that Apple is coming to the defense of App Store developers by attacking Apptrackr with takedown notices.



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Apple is taking legal measures to make it more difficult for pirated copies of App Store apps to make their way to the hands of iOS device owners
 

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25 Comments

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Keil

If Apple had a $&@?"/! trial and return process, then the cracked apps site wouldn't be able to use that as an excuse. I still have not received a refund for Apps that never worked, years later. Apple better step up. They have lost the friendly computer company feeling lately.

January 05 2012 at 7:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael Joseph Sugar

I think Rick Ludwig hit the nail on the head. Part of an apps success is how often its talked about. I think apps gain sales from the people who pirite them as well. Due to the publicity they get. The use of the app might not be a sale in itself but could lead to sales by gaining popularity. Also its worth pointing out that the Jailbreaking community dose not support this pirating. Lastly there is a large population that simply buys apps and will not jailbreak or pirite because they are not that tech savvy. *side note* Apps on iOS simply work better and have better support than on android. Thats one thing apple got right is making the system work so developers can make money unlike the android system in most cases. Most apps are free on andorid or will be free at some point. The point is the developers who started this whole 99 cent or free app crap are the ones responsible for people being cheap on the app store.

January 05 2012 at 2:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chayuth Pirotesak

Pirates do not pirate if there is no pirated app.
Your argument is invalid.

January 04 2012 at 11:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
AriX

Piracy is terrible, and so are the people that orchestrate it - but they are right about the lost sales. 95% of pirates probably wouldn't pay for the content in the first place. There is no way that pirates are losing billions of dollars for Apple.

January 04 2012 at 9:21 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
xxp84

I hate app store piracy; it's so ridiculous. Most of the apps are SO CHEAP, if you can't afford to kick maybe $5 in a month the developer's way (about what I spend on average) then you don't deserve to use any paid apps. Besides, so many free apps are out there that you should be able to get by LEGITIMATELY without ever spending a dime if you so choose.

Seriously, people spend $200+ on an iPhone and balk at 99¢. What. The. F%$K.

I'm not a mobile developer, but I do write code for a living. Also, I pirate the crap out of expensive stuff like Photoshop that I only use lightly as an occasional hobby. If I made my living with it, then I'd buy it. If it was $20, I'd buy it.

January 04 2012 at 8:55 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to xxp84's comment
Joseph Joel

Believe me, if kids had credit cards, there would be NO piracy. However, they don't. We a stuck using gift cards, which run out. So we pirate stuff.

January 05 2012 at 10:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gavin

It is estimated that 98+% of software in use here in Thailand is pirated. A business-owning friend of mine needed Corel Draw a few years ago and wanted the real McCoy. No way. He could get a pirated version for three US dollars, but the real one just wasn't available. I tried to by Windows 7 recently and ended up getting it on ebay from Germany!

Some developers will sell Tito you as a download but what, in the case of DiskWarrior, do you do when you need a bootable DVD? I had to get mine from Singapore!

Until and unless debs make a better job of marketing the legit product, they will not make any headway in this battle. Hence, you only see the BSA/similar taking on the easy targets. Walk into any government office here...

January 04 2012 at 8:22 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Gavin's comment
Chayuth Pirotesak

If you go to any IT department store such as Fortune Town, you would easily find genuine copies of Windows 7. There are even Microsoft stores there.

But I agree with other points. Some of genuine softwares are too complicated to install, use, and upgrade. I had a copy of genuine Windows Vista and bought and upgrade version of Windows 7. I had to install Vista first (took 40 min) and upgrade to 7 (took another 40 min). When I change the major hardware like HDD I had to call to Microsoft Call Center to obtain another activation code, in which I had to explain with an Indian guy why I need anther code, etc.

But none of any argument is valid for the App Store Apps. They are the most easiest method to buy and install. No excuse for piracy except I-DON'T-WANNA-PAY-FOR-THIS-SH*T reason.

Piracy in Thailand is persist due to the mindset that softwares are intangible, the same as air and people here feel no reason to pay for them, even small bucks that can't buy a full meal. (But they're willing to buy an iPhone and expensive cases)

January 04 2012 at 11:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Soluble Peter

Also, as app developers currently have no easy way to tell who is a pirate and who isn't, the costs of providing user support can be high if you have an app (such as our "MailShot Pro" group email app, for example) that inevitably needs a certain degree of customer support as there are so many different configurations out there, restrictions of different iSPs etc. to navigate through.

It is difficult enough providing good customer support to our regular customers at the current very low per-user cost of apps on the Store. Greater piracy would make it impossible.

Peter
Soluble Apps

January 04 2012 at 5:02 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
BEANIE

How low do you have to be to pirate 99 cent apps? Yet, you spent $500 on a phone. I'm only for this action pirating apps is a serious character flaw.

January 04 2012 at 3:19 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to BEANIE's comment
tatonka8181

99cent is actually a huge problem if you are a 12 year old kid with an iPod touch, little allowance money and most importantly, no credit card or access to a full fledged iTunes account. I believe the majority of pirated apps falls in that group of users (and the iPod rate on todays schoolyards is insane).

T.

January 05 2012 at 5:28 AM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to tatonka8181's comment
arkholt

I wonder what would happen, though, if Apple actually took AppTrackr at their word. Introduce App Store app trials. 30 days, 15 days, a week, whatever. A week, probably. For me, at least, that's about as much time as I need to figure out if I would actually continue to use an app. Then, see if downloads from AppTrackr or piracy in general drop at all. If so, then AppTrackr was right, and product trials were a major reason for the site. If not, then take the evidence to them and say, "Uh, I don't think so, folks."

January 04 2012 at 3:11 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to arkholt's comment
Oscar Goldman

An app developer could do this himself, unless Apple's rules prevent it. The application could be self-limiting in various ways. One way would be to require Internet connectivity and validation.

January 04 2012 at 3:45 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Oscar Goldman's comment
arkholt

Any single app developer could, and some do. What comes to mind immediately is the full free few days trials of the Spotify and Rdio. However, I think if my experiment is going to work, you have to give the pirates what they say they want all at once, the whole App Store filled with trial apps. Then we see if they were telling the truth about their motives or not.

January 05 2012 at 10:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down
mguniverse

Finally.

This software costs less than half the price of a meal at any fast food restaurant, its just disgusting seeing people pirate it.

January 04 2012 at 3:03 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to mguniverse's comment
Joseph Joel

Kids don't have credit cards. Kids are basically the only ones pirating stuff.

January 05 2012 at 10:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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