{"id":3203,"date":"2024-03-07T15:09:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T19:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3203"},"modified":"2024-03-07T15:09:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T19:09:33","slug":"apple-is-making-big-app-store-changes-in-europe-over-new-rules-could-it-mean-more-iphone-hacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3203","title":{"rendered":"Apple is making big App Store changes in Europe over new rules. Could it mean more iPhone hacking?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apple is opening small cracks in the iPhone\u2019s digital fortress as part of a regulatory clampdown in Europe that is striving to give consumers more choices \u2014 at the risk of creating new avenues for hackers to steal personal and financial information stored on the devices.<\/span>

The overhaul rolling out Thursday only in the European Union\u00a0represents the biggest changes<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to the iPhone\u2019s App Store since Apple introduced the concept in 2008. Among other things, people in Europe can download iPhone apps from stores not operated by Apple and are getting alternative ways to pay for in-app transactions.<\/p>

European regulators are hoping the changes\u00a0mandated by the Digital Markets Act<\/a><\/span>, or DMA, will loosen the control that Big Tech\u2019s \u201cdigital gatekeepers\u201d have gained over the products and services that consumers and businesses use as they become more dominant forces in everyday life.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The measures took effect just days after EU regulators\u00a0fined Apple nearly $2 billion (1.8 billion euros)\u00a0for thwarting competition in the music streaming market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple has lashed out at the new regulations for unnecessary security risks to iPhone users in Europe, exposing them to more scams and other malicious attacks launched from apps downloaded from outside its ecosystems and raising the specter of more unsavory services peddling pornography, illegal drugs and other content that the company has long prohibited in its App Store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite trying to maintain security safeguards while also adhering to the new rules in the 27-nation bloc,\u00a0Apple is warning\u00a0that \u201cthe changes the DMA requires will inevitably cause a gap between the protections that Apple users outside of the EU can rely on and the protections available to users in the EU moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple\u2019s warnings should be taken with a grain of salt, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing mobile devices is \u201ctotally different\u201d from third-party app stores, and Apple is \u201cdeliberately confusing it here to muddy the waters,\u201d said Michael Veale, an associate professor at University College London who specializes in digital rights and regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cApple\u2019s App Store is not a proxy for corporate data security \u2014 apps within it regularly send data to insecure cloud servers, to hidden third-party trackers and much more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some smaller tech companies like music streaming service Spotify and video game maker Epic Games also are attacking the ways Apple is complying with the DMA as little more than a facade that\u2019s making a \u201cmockery\u201d of the regulations\u2019 intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRather than creating healthy competition and new choices, Apple\u2019s new terms will erect new barriers and reinforce Apple\u2019s stronghold over the iPhone ecosystem,\u201d Spotify, Epic and more than two dozen other companies and alliances\u00a0wrote in a March 1 letter\u00a0to the European Commission, the EU\u2019s executive arm overseeing the DMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epic, which makes the popular game Fortnite, also\u00a0contends Apple is already brazenly violating the DMA\u00a0by rejecting an alternative iPhone app store it planned to release in Sweden. Epic asserted Apple thwarted its attempt to compete as retaliation for\u00a0scathing critiques posted by CEO Tim Sweeney, who spearheaded a mostly unsuccessful antitrust case against the iPhone App Store in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, EU regulators said Thursday that they\u00a0want to question Apple\u00a0over allegations it blocked Epic\u2019s app store. Apple was defiant, saying it \u201cchose to exercise that right\u201d to boot the app store based on Epic\u2019s past behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe\u2019s shifting digital landscape is\u00a0forcing changes at other technology powerhouses\u00a0such as Google and Facebook, but the new regulations strike at the core of Apple\u2019s philosophy of maintaining ironclad control over every aspect of its products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \u201cwalled garden\u201d approach conceived by late co-founder Steve Jobs begins with the meticulous design of the hardware and then extends into all the software powering it devices, as well as overseeing the commerce occurring on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approach built an empire with nearly\u00a0$400 billion in annual revenue\u00a0\u2014 success that Apple traces to the trust it has built through decades of vigilant management of the iPhone and other popular products such as the iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Epic\u2019s Sweeney acknowledged that one of the reasons he uses an iPhone is because of the staunch security measures that Apple has deployed to thwart hackers and protect the privacy of its customers. That came during testimony in a May 2021 trial resulting in\u00a0a U.S. judge ruling\u00a0that the App Store isn\u2019t a monopoly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that decision, the judge required Apple to begin allowing links to outside payment options inside iPhone apps in the U.S. It\u2019s a requirement that the company began to allow earlier this year\u00a0after the U.S. Supreme Court refused\u00a0to hear an appeal on that issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple \u2014 which is making changes in Europe through an iPhone software update \u2014 still doesn\u2019t permit alternative iPhone app stores in the U.S. or more than 100 other countries outside the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European regulators appear convinced that the benefits consumers stand to reap from more competition will outweigh any increased security risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One potential positive is lower prices for digital transactions within apps if competing stores charge lower commissions than the 15% to 30% fees Apple has been imposing for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But critics are raising doubts that will happen because Apple still plans to charge fees after app downloads reach relatively low thresholds and have set up other hurdles that will make it daunting for alternative options to make significant inroads in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple insists the security problems hatched by the DMA are so worrisome that it has been hearing from government agencies \u2014 especially those in defense, banking and emergency services \u2014 wanting to ensure they will be able to block employees with iPhones from accessing apps distributed from outside Apple\u2019s walled garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese agencies have all recognized that sideloading \u2014 downloading apps from outside the App Store \u2014 could compromise security and put government data and devices at risk,\u201d Apple said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veale, the digital expert, pushed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny firm or government who believe \u2018apps from the App Store are safe\u2019 may need to refresh their security and data protection teams or policies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple is opening small cracks in the iPhone\u2019s digital f […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3205,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203\/revisions\/3205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}