And if that doesn’t work, terrorism or satanic panic next?
Apple, fearing regulators will force it to allow people to sideload whatever apps they like on their own iOS devices, has published a paper arguing about the importance of its oversight. The iGiant also sent a letter to US lawmakers warning of supposed harm if its gatekeeping is disallowed. The letter is directed at members of the House Judiciary Committee and its Antitrust Subcommittee, who on Wednesday held a markup hearing to amend and vote on the advancement of six antitrust bills intended to rein in Big Tech. « We are concerned that many provisions of the recent package of antitrust reform legislation would create a race to the bottom for security and privacy, while also undermining innovation and competition, » wrote Timothy Powderly, Apple senior director of government affairs for the Americas [ PDF]. Apple faces the real possibility that its control over its iOS ecosystem will be diminished, if Epic Games prevails in its lawsuit against Apple or if lawmakers in the US, UK, Australia, or elsewhere decide Apple’s authoritarian iOS regime is unfair to competitors and software makers. Last week, speaking remotely for the Viva Technology conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook decried the language in the EU’s proposed Digital Marketers Act, saying that it « would destroy the security of the iPhone and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we’ve built into the App Store. » He also said that sideloading – allowed in the Android ecosystem – would do the same. Apple articulated that point at greater length in its paper, « Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps: The important role of App Store protections » [ PDF]. « By providing additional distribution channels, changing the threat model, and widening the universe of potential attacks, sideloading on iPhone would put all users at risk, even those who make a deliberate effort to protect themselves by only downloading apps through the App Store, » Apple claims in its report. « Allowing sideloading would spur a flood of new investment into attacks on iPhone, incentivizing malicious actors to develop tools and expertise to attack iPhone device security at an unprecedented scale. » The paper goes on for sixteen pages, arguing more or less that iOS users are children who need to be protected. « iOS poses unique security challenges because users continuously and frequently download new apps onto their devices, and because iOS devices need to be safe enough for children to use unsupervised, » the paper says. Laying the groundwork for its assertion that sideloading – a freedom afforded to every macOS user since the first Macintosh computer – is an existential threat, Apple SVP of software Craig Federighi testified at the recent Epic v.
