More on Wang Ting

I received a fairly prompt response from AppStoreNotices@apple.com with regards to the Tile Cutter infringement I blogged about earlier today. They've sent an e-mail to Wang Ting, the "developer" fond of taking apps off of GitHub and selling them as his own creations. Apple has asked him to voluntarily take down TileCutter or provide evidence that he has the right to publish the app.

That's something, I guess. 

As of right now, Apple won't take any action on any of the other infringing apps. This is true even though the developer's own page gives clear evidence of a pattern and practice of blatant copyright infringement. Apple is aware of it, but will not take any action unless they receive individual takedown requests from each of the individual rights holders. All 154 of them. 

Why? Because they don't have to, legally speaking. They are protected by the DMCA for any infringing material until the moment they receive a takedown notice from a rights holder. So, they're playing it safe. Revoking developer privileges doesn't even seem to be on the table.

It's frustrating that Apple has no problem playing gatekeeper and keeping apps out of the store for the most trivial and arbitrary of reasons, but won't play gatekeeper when presented with clear evidence of repeated copyright infringement. A serial infringer who is stealing the creative output of dozens of developers, designers, and publishers gets a pass because that's the legal path of least resistance for Apple. 

What's really annoying is that if I'm interested in seeing the right thing happen here, I have to track down the parties infringed upon for by hundred and fifty-four different apps. I would like to. Honestly, I would. But as a practical matter, I don't have the time. I can't really afford the time I've lost to this issue today already.

The simple truth is, I have no leverage to make Apple do the right thing here except with regards to my one little app (which is still for sale as I write this). At the moment, it seems pretty unlikely that Apple will do the right thing and revoke the account of a serial infringer. I can't see how this does anything but encourage the Wang Ting's of the world. It's a clear message that as long as you steal from lots of different people or keep a low profile, Apple won't stop you unless they absolutely, positively have to.

The benefit of the App Store over the Android Marketplace, we've been repeatedly told, is that Apple acts as gatekeeper. They curate and inspect the apps to insure a better experience, higher quality apps, and to protect users and developers. Right? 

Too bad protecting developers' livelihoods is less deserving of gatekeeper protection than defending the App Store from an occasional nipple.

So, if you are the right's owner of an app, publication, or other content on this page (or any other page, for that matter), you should send a DMCA takedown notice to AppStoreNotices@apple.com right this very moment. Don't wait. Do it now. Apple, at least, will do what they are legally obligated to do. If you're not the right's holder, but know how to reach any of the right's holders of content on that page, please make them aware of the situation so they can send a takedown notice.

Maybe if Apple gets enough DMCA takedown notices for the same developer in a short enough period of time, they'll consider doing the right thing. I'm not holding my breath, mind you, but I feel like I have to try and make the right thing happen if I can. Finding a way to get word all the rights holders seem the best and only way to do that right now.

Irksome, but Nothing New

I woke up this morning to a friendly tweet from someone who noticed that another "developer" had taken one of my Github Projects and had put the app on the App Store for money.

Now, I license my source code very liberally.  Generally, using my stuff - even recompiling and releasing it unchanged - is allowed. In this case, the source code headers require nothing except that code redistribution include the copyright notice and license. In other words, you can use the code from Tile Cutter without any obligation to me at all. However, the project license, which covers everything else besides the code, specifically requires copyright notice and attribution. That means the assets like images, icons, and nib files cannot be used without at very least attributing me and including my copyright notice. Not only is there no attribution in this app, the developer has taken steps to remove the license and copyright notices to make it look like it was written by him or her. Hell, they even used my GitHub description, word for word, except for the part about the licensing terms.

If the app were free, I'd probably just shake my head and move on. If someone wants to pretend they wrote some code I wrote, it doesn't really hurt me all that much. I'm a little irked by the fact that they're charging money for something that I intended to be free and can't fathom how they can view this as a legitimate thing to do, but even with them charging for it, it doesn't really hurt me. It bothers me a little that they are enriching themselves on something I intended to be free, but I can get over that.

But, it turns out, it's not just my stuff this developer has done this with. This same developer also took EmberWind, Stone Mill, and Stash (renamed Personal Finance) from GitHub and did the exact same thing. Seeing this makes me far more angry, because these works represent a fair amount more effort than this weekend project of mine. In all these cases, the developer has taken steps to make it appear that they are the original author of the apps by removing links or attributions to the original authors. Even if not a direct violation of the licenses (I'm pretty sure it is in these cases), it's clearly unethical. The theft of these other apps makes me far more mad than the misappropriation of mine.

But wait, there's even more!

Someone sent me this link to the developer's web site. Apparently, Wang Ting is a very prolific developer whose list of apps include several major American Magazines and dozens of other Mac and iPhone apps. Several people have identified the sources of several of the app icons on that page (hint: at least some of them are not original to this developer), and I have a sneaking suspicion that Cosmopolitan, Marie-Claire, T3, and Seventeen haven't licensed their work to some random individual developer in China. I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to put money on it if you're in a betting mood.

I've notified Apple, and will be attempting to notify others whose work was stolen. Hopefully, Apple will take down the offending apps and consider revoking Wang Ting's developer privileges.

I know Apple can't and shouldn't be expected to catch all copyright infringements and license violations in submitted apps, and when you open source something, there's always a risk that people will use it and not respect the original license. But I have to wonder why the more blatant cases don't send up a big red flag.  If I were a reviewer and saw a major US magazine's content included in an app by a random developer, I'd be a little hesitant to approve the app without some proof that they had the right to publish it.

Pris

My MartianCraft business partner, Rob, today released a new, very slick camera app called Pris. It's available on the App Store here, and you can read Rob's blog post introducing Pris' features and his motivation for writing it here.

I don't normally do product announcements here, even for friends, but given the ordeal Rob went through with his last app, Briefs, which sat in review for over a year and was never approved for App Store sale, I wanted to get the word out about his new app, which (thankfully) made it through review with only one hiccup.

There are a lot of camera apps, but Pris has been under development for a very long time and is pretty awesome. It gives you, for example, live feedback, including a realtime histogram, and precise control over focus and exposure. 

Pris is on sale for a limited time at $1.99.

WWDC 2012 Pilgrimage to Apple HQ

Just a reminder: Once again this year, there will be a bus pilgrimage to Cupertino on Sunday, June 10, which is the day before WWDC starts. While the morning bus has sold out, there is still some room on the afternoon buses. If you have any thoughts of visiting the Apple campus, this is the best way to go if you don't have a car.  Hell, it's probably the best way to go even if you do have a car. Bay Area traffic is no fun, and we use big comfortable touring buses.

The Company Store will be open and you don't need a WWDC ticket to shop, so this is a great chance to stock up on Apple swag, including a whole lot of stuff that they won't be selling up at Moscone during the week. It's also a chance to get your picture taken in front of the Apple HQ sign. You'll get to hang out with several other Mac and iOS developer geeks and meet some people before the official WWDC craziness gets started. 

The last several years have been a blast. I think this is, what? The third annual WWDC Pilgrimage? Or is it the fourth? Either way, it's been great fun every year. If you're interested in going, the signup and information page is here. 

If you think you want to go, don't wait. This event has sold out every year so far and there's no reason to think this year will be different.

2012 WWDC T-Shirts

Well, pre-ordering of the WWDC MartianCraft T-Shirts for 2012 is now closed. We're going to leave the order form up until WWDC ends and do one final print run at that point. After that, the 2012 shirt is going out of production. We'll be back next year (or maybe even sooner) with a new design, but this particular one will be retired for good.

As I mentioned before, we will be bringing some shirts with us just like in past years, but we're not promising them to people an advance. There's too many people who'd like them.  It's too hard to keep track of who was promised what size and we end up carrying dozens of shirts all over the place looking for people. When we have shirts available for givesies, either Rob or I will tweet where we are or how you can get one.

Appsterdam WWDC HQ

I normally leave reporting of WWDC events to other blogs, but I thought this was interesting enough that it warranted its own post, especially given the number of people who didn't get tickets this year but still plan to be in San Francisco showcializing.

The folks from Appsterdam have arranged free space, electricity, internet, and coffee at the StockMob HQ at 541 8th street all week long. Any developers in town from June 11th to 15th are welcome to work during the days for free.

You can find out more details at the Appsterdam WWDC HQ page.

The Gospel of Treadmill

Since the treadmill desk experiment I've been engaged in isn't directly related to iPhone Development, I've been trying not to fill up this blog with posts about it, but it has now been several months and I thought one last post on the subject was in order.

I'm still extremely happy with using a treadmill desk and will never willingly go back to full-time sitting. I still sit a few hours a day: I treadmill for about eight hours, six days a week, averaging just under three miles per hour. However, my work days are almost always longer than eight hours, so after that, I switch to sitting. Although my rate of weight loss has slowed (partially attributable to spending a month away from my desk: two weeks in Europe for conferences and two weeks on vacation), my weight is still going in a fairly steady downward motion. The first two months, I averaged between ten and fifteen pounds a month of weight loss. Now, it's closer to eight pounds a month on average (plus I gained a few back while traveling). At this pace, it'll take me a while to get my weight where I want it (in other words, if you're at WWDC and want to find me, you still need to look for a fat guy), but that's okay, because I don't have to think about losing weight. I just go to work. I don't have to remember to go to the gym or to go for a run and I don't have to make time in my day for it. I just go to work, which I have to do anyway and actually enjoy doing.

More important than the number on the scale, though, is how I feel, and I certainly feel better than I did when I was at this same weight on the way up. In fact, physically, I feel better than I have in a decade, despite the fact that I still have a fair bit of weight to lose. For years, I've had pretty serious back problems that trace to an injury I sustained in 1997. Since then, almost any time I've had to do significant lifting or heavy physical labor, I've ended up in agony for a few days, sometimes to the point of not being able to walk; sometimes to the point where the twenty steps from my bed to the bathroom were nearly unbearable.

Last weekend I dug a drainage ditch and lugged about twenty fifty-pound bags of gravel around my property. Six months ago, that effort would've bought me at least a day or two of agony. I woke up last Monday morning feeling fine. No back pain, no soreness, and I haven't been doing any physical exercise except what I do at my treadmill desk. I don't know whether that's because I'm strengthening my back while walking or simply allowing it to heal by not being hunched in a chair all day (or both), but whatever it is, I like it.

But there's one thing that's even better than the way that I'm feeling now: The fact that the success of my experiment has caused a number of other people to join me. I haven't taken a census of who has picked up treadmill desk-ing since I started, but I can think of close to a dozen offhand and several more who I know are contemplating it. Although they deserve the credit for taking the initiative and putting in the work, it's still really gratifying to have been some small factor in other people making the decision to start. And I'm not the only one spreading the Gospel of Treadmill in our community these days. In fact, Dan's tale is awfully similar to mine, except that I never worked at NASA and my weight numbers are a lot higher than his.

If you have questions about treadmill desk-ing, feel free to hit me up on e-mail or on twitter. I'm @jeff_lamarche on Twitter and you can reach me by e-mail at my twitter handle at mac dot com.