> If the Android Market is a free market, why was a tethering
> application pulled at the behest of TMobile for TMobile customers
> only?

A free market does not necessarily mean a rule-free market.

Generally speaking, the freedom of a market is a point on a continuum from
"anarchy" to "authoritarian". The Android Market is further down the path
to "anarchy" than is, say, the iPhone App Store.

A tethering application, in the eyes of T-Mobile, "interferes with,
disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices,
servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party". In
this case the "third party" is T-Mobile. The quoted passage is from the
Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement:

http://www.android.com/us/developer-distribution-agreement.html

> Can carriers simply ask for any application to be removed from
> the market?

They can ask, and the burden of proof should be on them that such an
application violates the above terms. If, for example, T-Mobile felt that
farting applications were uncouth, they could ask Google to get rid of
them from the Market. Unless farting applications are demonstrated to
violate the above terms, I sincerely hope Google will tell T-Mobile to go
pound sand. Only time will tell.

-- 
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
http://commonsware.com
_The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development_ Version 2.0 Available!



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