alt Hacker NewsI wonder if people would be happy replacing the "Google approves developers" system with a "government requires your ID and address on file so you can be held liable for your apps" system. I suspect not.
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That is already a requirement in any civilized country. You cannot run a business without a registered ID, address, etc. for tax purposes.
For free (like for real no microtransactions) that is different. For the rest, they already have that.
If you don't agree with a decision made by your government, you can vote for someone else next time. If you don't agree with a decision made by Google, what do you do?
It's virtually the case, google and apple accounts require ID verification, which in turn can be requested by the gov in case of an investigation.
What for? Malicious actors have no shortage of stolen identities.
The only part that would really be novel is the liability.
I would be shocked if you could publish an iOS app without Apple being able to tell the government who you are. Less because Apple cares and more because Apple requires you to pay, which is very hard to do anonymously for something like this (I’d bet the options they offer are effectively “credit card only”).