iOS apps hijack Twitter accounts, post false "confessions" of piracy

Dictionary app maker's move is the very definition of how not to fight theft.

by Jon Brodkin
Nov 13 2012
Ars Technica

An iOS application developer has come up with an extreme way of 
fighting software piracy-by auto-posting "confessions" to its users' 
Twitter accounts.

If you search Twitter for the hashtag #softwarepirateconfession 
you'll find a stream of tweets stating, "How about we all stop using 
pirated iOS apps? I promise to stop. I really will. 
#softwarepirateconfession." There are many dozens of these tweets in 
the past day alone, all identical. So what's happening? It turns out 
that Enfour, the maker of a variety of dictionary apps, is 
auto-posting tweets to users' accounts to shame them for being 
pirates. But the auto-tweeting seems to be affecting a huge portion 
of its paid user base, not just those who actually stole the apps.

An apology in Japanese was posted on the Japan-based Enfour's site, 
listing affected products including more than a dozen English 
dictionary and thesaurus apps, such as American Heritage, Collins, 
and Australian Oxford dictionaries. There are another half-dozen or 
so Japanese language apps affected as well.

...

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/ios-apps-hijack-twitter-accounts-post-false-confessions-of-piracy/

_______________________________________________

Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a 
"Thank you" if you like this post.
_______________________________________________
Medianews mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews

Reply via email to