Markets' T&Cs make it clear that you use any application downloaded through it "AS IS" (their caps) (See section 9.1 of http://www.google.com/mobile/android/market-tos.html). So if it includes a kill switch which may be activated, and the service provider activates that kill switch, then that is the software acting as it has been designed, and thus is the software acting "AS IS".
My company had an AdSense account blocked, and, even after numerous enquiries, we've never been told what justification Google had for the account being blocked. Sure, we could take them to court over it, but all we did was change our revenue streams to not rely on it and changed our advertising practices to vastly reduce our use of AdWords (we went down to about 10% of our previous use of AdSense, didn't notice any real difference in sales, and so we've not ramped back up). When faced with being on the wrong end of a kill switch it's normally cost effective to move to a competing product, and there are laws in many jurisdictions which are designed to ensure there are competing products to move to. You may chose to give you users special rights of access to your app, but they do not exist by default, so if an app includes a kill switch that the service provider choses to activate then there is absolutely nothing stopping them unless it breaches an existing contract they have with the user or a law in a relevant jurisdiction, and as far as I know there are no jurisdictions which allow users with a contract to access services which the service provider does not want them to. Al. -- T: @alsutton W: www.funkyandroid.com The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or it's subsidiaries. On 9 Dec 2011, at 14:14, c beck wrote: > > sent from a mobile device > On Dec 9, 2011 2:37 AM, "Al Sutton" <a...@funkyandroid.com> wrote: > > > > There is no such thing as a "right to refuse service". Users to not have a > > default right to use any service without entering into an agreement with > > the service provider, so as long as the refusal to provide a service does > > not breach any contract or law, a developer is well within their rights to > > ban users as they wish. > > > > That's why companies like Google can shut down users AdSense accounts > > without any notice and not tell you what you've done to be banned from the > > service let alone providing any proof you have actually done anything wrong, > > > To date, and unless they have already been in court over the issue, Google > only has the ability to discontinue someone's assessed account. Not the > "right". It simply does not mater whether it is in the terms of use or not. > In order to determine whether they had "the right" or not, their ability > must be challenged. Thus "the right" will be decided on a case by case basis > by judge/jury/etc. depending on the level of elevation and where you are > located. Just because you can, it does not mean you are within your rights. > > > > and why they can refuse to provide services such as Google Music, and their > > latest app (Currents) to users who live outside a single country without > > providing any reason. > > Refusing service to begin with is different than taking it away. There is > also a huge difference between a continued/ongoing service and an > extended-use appliance. > > > > I'm sure we could go around this loop many times, but a lot of people seem > > to think they have a right of entitlement which they do not. > > This is true on both sides of the argument. :-) > > > You can consider a service provider to be pretty dumb to stop a user or > > users from using their service, but you don't have any rights to force a > > third party to offer you their work just because you want it. > > Don't be silly. No one is forcing us to give our programs away if we offer > them free. We decided that. But once we give them away, they are no longer > ours. We may still have control over them, but our rights to that control > becomes a legal issue. I think that is all most people this side of the > argument are saying. > > Cheers, ~Chris > > > > _snip_ > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Android Discuss" group. > To post to this group, send email to android-discuss@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > android-discuss+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to android-discuss@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-discuss+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en.
