Microsoft automatically uninstalls pirated navigation app from Windows Phones

December 3, 2011 | By Surur

Turn by Turn GPS Navigation has been unlucky enough to have their XAP pirated. More unusual however is that some-one uploaded the unaltered XAP to Marketplace and it was accepted.

Italian site Plaffo pointed it out, and as normally € 35.99 app was being made available for free thousands of people downloaded it.

Microsoft when notified immediately removed the app from Marketplace, but more interestingly also activated automatic uninstall of the app, a measure that would normally be reserved for malicious apps.

TheOwner, under who’s account the app was uploaded (and who claims that his PC was hacked) has been threatened with $40,000 of damages, which gives an idea of the losses involved.

The ability to remotely uninstall apps appears to be used rather rarely on other platforms. Do our readers think Microsoft overreacted? Let us know below.

Via Plaffo.com

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged marketplace, windows phone 7.5

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WUROVVOH7EIMFFFVSM5FJX4SOA Benjamin

Not sure if the guy “TheOwner” was intentionally trying to be funny or otherwise.
http://www.facebook.com/garen.yondem Garen Yöndem

Do not mess with Microsoft
http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrea-Barbera/633833446 Andrea Barbera

Microsoft did the right thing, by protecting the interests of the developper of the app. Automatic removal seems to be totally appropiate in this case.
http://twitter.com/Johannespreekt Johannespreekt

In this case you would say good that Microsoft did uninstall it for the developer, but the idea that Micrsoft can install and uninstall things without your approval is something I really don’t like!!!

Anonymous

“Install and uninstall”? How do you conclude from this that Microsoft can “install things” without our approval?
http://twitter.com/TheBigM72 Samil Shah

Both Android and iOS have kill switches built in. Android needs it due to all the malware in android market. Apple usually use theirs for commercial reasons. Completely appropriate. Users downloaded a free app so suffer no loss by losing access to it. If it was a paid app, money goes through Microsoft anyway who make periodic payments to developers (i.e. not instantly). So if users had paid for the rip-off then MS could have disabled the app, refunded users (or provided credit).

MS has to protect the interests of developers to grow the ecosystem. A growing ecosystem is more valuable to most users than losing a free app or two.

Anonymous

Show me a link to where Apple has EVER used the kill switch on any app.

http://twitter.com/iLLeStEyECoN Alex Rodriguez Jr.

They revoked the access of the app, which I would think is a little different than uninstalling it.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R36QZINH374CVUDXTBWRIMJ6CA Naren B

MS didn’t overreact here. Its the right way to deal with piracy.
Anonymous

what I want to say is: the one who hacked and uploaded the xap should be sent to jail. I can’t believe someone commit a crime and be proud of it.

Anonymous

There is a subset of the population who believes in the entitlement to luxury items, in particular digital media, be it music or software or movies. They justify their theft, or enabling of theft in this case, by arguing that publishers make enough money or that they charge too much. The argument breaks down because they fail to account for the scenario when EVERYBODY does it. They also fail to account for the cost of policing against piracy and lost revenues from piracy being passed along to paying customers. These customers are being asked to subsidize their theft.

freestaterocker

As disturbing as it is that Microsoft can access the software on my device, I’m glad to see swift action for the developers. This level of support for devs could help attract them to the platform.
jo bee

Excellent job – this is about intellectual property and security of the platform

https://profiles.google.com/christopher.gull/ CG

Especially good new for Nokia, I bet. And yes, I’m one of those who’ll buy Lumia to get e.g. Nokia Drive.

Impartial

I am one of those, I bought it for that reason and it’s really good

Anonymous

Uninstalling apps from your phone without the users authorization is unacceptable. It is not the users fault that Microsoft failed to protect their Marketplace from missuses like this. This does not bode well for a Windows 8 Marketplace if Microsoft can decide what I can use on my computer and what not. Of course the thief should be charged, but Microsoft should also apologize to all the users which downloaded the app from the Marketplace for free and offer them a discount or something if they download the legit app.

Anonymous

So stealing without getting caught by the police is also permissible. Right.

Why should they applogize and offer people a discount when they downloaded the app for free? Are you stupid? The apology should go to the dev and he should get some good treatment instead of the people who got it for free.

Anonymous

…RIGHT, because the people who downloaded the App had no idea that it was not a legit copy. Calling this stealing is just plain stupid.

Boris Yankov

People certainly hadn’t stolen it. But that is irrelevant.

In any country, the law is that if you obtain (free or by purchasing) a stolen good, it is taken from you. Even if you paid you take the losses.

So this action is totally OK by me and is in sync with most laws out there.
Anonymous

Sure but now they know it was illegal and they should not be upset. It was right move by msft.
Anonymous

WTF, it’s receiving stolen goods no matter whether the person knew they were getting it or not. So if someone was sitting in the back of a white van, not selling dvd players but just giving them away for free, and you got one, and later the police came to your residence and said it’s was actually stolen, we need to recover that, you would say “no” because when you got it you thought it was free therefore you’re entitled to it? There are actually laws in many states in America (and i’m sure around the world too) that state once you know something you received is stolen, or if you even suspect it’s stolen you’re supposed to give it back.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong w/ MSFT remotely uninstalling it, it’s protecting the developer. If you want a wild wild west phone platform, android is what you’re looking for

Anonymous

In your example the police is still asking for the return of the dvd player. Microsoft did not ask nor did they get permission to access the files. It’s more like braking into someones house to retrieve that stolen dvd player.
Anonymous

you do know by using the marketplace, you and everyone said that they allow microsoft to do that. so it’s not like microsoft is breaking into your house, it’s more like microsoft is going into your house and taking back that dvd player, after you already gave them the key and explicitly said that you allowed them to do that. kiiiinda a big difference
http://twitter.com/dgaust David Gordon

They don’t have to, they already have it. It’s called an EULA and every OS manufacturer has them same provisions.

http://twitter.com/gibbyhome Mark Gibbs

I’m not sure what country your from but in the US, if someone breaks into someones store or house and steals a product and you happen to purchase this product from a pawn store or wherever and you do not know its stolen you need to give it back and you don’t get your money back.. thats just life..
this might not be a good answer but I do think MS did the right thing in deactivaing the product to protect the developers hard work

Anonymous

So you think it is ok to break into your house to retrieve a stolen good that you earlier acquired from a pawn shop? That is exactly what Microsoft is doing, they are breaking into your phone to get access to a program to get it back. Microsoft did not ask the users and that’s what bothers me.

Anonymous

they are spying in our phones without our permission

Anonymous

The consumer got it for free and it was uninstall for free. why should microsoft pay the user for accepting stollen goods. The users have to be thanking microsoft for uninstalling because no one knows what this guy has embedded in this app before uploading it for free.

Microsoft keep the watch on we the consumers need to be protected. I move to wp7 because of security.
http://twitter.com/Ritsuko_Inoue Carmen

If items were stolen, do you think you have the right to
keep them? They got them for free they did not have any loss. The post gives
the idea that they only remove the stolen copy of the app not the original one,
the ones that paid for the original one should be alright. they did not hack it
from their marketplace, as the article says the developer’s computer was hacked
and they gain access to their account to the xap file “The Owner, under who’s account
the app was uploaded (and who claims that his PC was hacked) has been
threatened with $40,000 of damages, which gives an idea of the losses involved.”
and they have the complete app which downloaded in a different account. “Turn
by Turn GPS Navigation has been unlucky enough to have their XAP pirated. More
unusual however is that some-one uploaded the unaltered XAP to Marketplace and
it was accepted.”

Please could you read an article more than one time before
making any unfounded opinions, you only show that you not have any idea how app
development and publishing works.

The only fault from marketplace is that they accepted and published the copy, which they will pay the developer that was affected not the opportunists that downloaded the free version.

edited: Add last paragraph

Anonymous

Microsoft did the right thing. They do not only protect the interest of developers but that of the consumer also.
Anonymous

The article is wrong, Microsoft did not uninstall the software from Windows Phones at all. They invalidated the application certificate, which makes end-users unable to run the application when they have an open internet connection. Once you boot an application on the Windows Phone platform, the phone will run the license by the Microsoft Servers to check whether the app is valid / you have a valid license. All Microsoft did is sent a signal back that the license is invalid and you cannot run the app! If you try the same without an internet connection (hence, you have to stil have a valid certificate as it stores the latest result on the phone) you can boot the application without a problem.

In the end Microsoft cannot install/uninstall software on Windows Phone (that we know of anyway), but it can invalidate licenses as they are stored on the Microsoft Servers.

http://twitter.com/illusive_life Arthur Brownlee IV

Which is damn near the same isn’t it? Why would I want an inaccessible application on my phone that I may have data stored in?

Malicious apps? No thanks, not without warning or notification. An app that poses no risk to me, that I may have paid money for? They don’t get to touch it. If it was pirated, it’s up to whoever pirated to make up the losses, not me. If I want to *return* it to them, that is acceptable.

I’m amazed how many of you WP7 fanbois are so quick to give up control of your device.

Anonymous

Wait a second, never in my entire post did I say that I ‘liked it’ nor that I want to give up the control over my device, I merely explained how it works. I agree with you that I should have control over my applications, but you have to understand how the marketplace works. Also, this is true for any mobile OS (Android, iOS and WP7 alike), as well as devices like the PlayStation 3, Xbox360, etc.

You agree to a terms of service, that allows the OS maker to have control over the device up to a certain point. Microsoft has choosen the least problematic approach, since the data is NOT removed you can actually back it up if you want (there is simple application in the SDK / stand-alone to export data from apps). Google and Apple actually remove the entire application and it’s data from your phone. Don’t get me wrong, it is not easy to accept either approach, but it is the world we live in.

More important, fencing (knowingly buy stolen goods) is illegal. There is some debate whether the end user could have seen it in the marketplace, but it is illegal nonetheless. So allowing the user to use it would make Microsoft accessory to the fact. Therefore they had to do something… (not different from any company, Google and Apple would have reacted similar).

Last, you can disallow Microsoft to do this, just don’t use the Marketplace (or disconnect once you downloaded all the applications you want). You can unlock the device and use sideloaded applications, which Microsoft can’t control. True, this limits your movements, but don’t expect that you can use the Marketplace without consequences, no OS will allow that.

https://mijnopenid.nl/is/bubbelz Bubbelz

Apple doesn’t remove the app from your phone. Google has a kill-switch, Microsoft has an invalidator, Apple doesn’t do anything against it but remove it out of the App Store.

Anonymous

You’ll find in the material world (in most countries), that any stolen property is returned to the rightful owner regardless of whether you’ve paid for it or not. It is your responsibility to check that it is not stolen.

In this case the app was stolen and distributed by MS. MS is obligated to the owner of the stolen software to retrieve all known stolen copies it has distributed (or “fenced”).

http://www.facebook.com/danrh Daniel Rivero Horie

Completely acceptable, it’s a pirated software so there’s no right to complain at all
Anonymous

Actually this was a bad decision by Microsoft. The application should be removed from the marketplace, the person who uploaded it punished and microsoft procedures for approving applications should be improved (without harming future submissions, no need for more strict rules).

The decision to deliberately alter the access of a user to the applications on his phone without the explicit user consent is way over the scope where a private company should be allowed to act. If it’s a legal problem it should be solved by proper authorities. This ability should only be used with support from a legal action (same way the police can retrieve stolen item from the buyers).

Actually, the windows phone marketplace policies, are the only thing stopping me from gettting a Windows phone. I don’t want to change to a device that gives me less control over it than my PC, where I install what applications I want without someone else saying “we find that the contents of this application is suitable, you may use it, until we change our mind”. I know this example was not what happened but it’s the first step on that direction.

With ChevronLabs I know I can pay for that kind of access, but it’s still paying for a right I never want to give away. The ability to install applications on a phone without the need for approval should be there from the beginning.
I know this can lead to piracy problems but I also think the majority of users will still prefer a centralized marketplace, but knowing that if by some reason Microsoft forbiddens that application, they can still buy it some where else.

Anonymous

“Actually this was a bad decision by Microsoft. The application should be removed from the marketplace, the person who uploaded it punished and microsoft procedures for approving applications should be improved (without harming future submissions, no need for more strict rules).”

Pretty sure all of that happened.

“The decision to deliberately alter the access of a user to the applications on his phone without the explicit user consent is way over the scope where a private company should be allowed to act.”

Are you dense? If it’s a stolen app you can’t use it. If this happened to any of my apps I would expect the same thing to happen. Those users don’t have permission from the developer to use the app for free.

“we find that the contents of this application is suitable, you may use it, until we change our mind”

What are you talking about? MS in no way seems to be headed this way. Nothing even close has ever happened. This app was pirated, submitted to the MP and given away for free. MS did the right thing and pulled it from the marketplace and disabled access to the app.

“The ability to install applications on a phone without the need for approval should be there from the beginning. ”

If that’s a necessity then you should go, or stay if you have it already, with Android. This will never be supported with Windows Phone. It isn’t only to stop piracy, it’s also to prevent malicious code from infecting phones. If you need this feature for one reason or another you can use the ChevronLabs solution or become a registered developer.

Anonymous

“Are you dense? If it’s a stolen app you can’t use it. If this happened to any of my apps I would expect the same thing to happen. Those users don’t have permission from the developer to use the app for free.”

Yes, but it’s not for Microsoft to decide that, the decision to retrieve “potential” stolen goods must come from a justice agency not a corporation. If that was the case, good, but the user must be informed, not only that Microsoft says it’s stolen but that higher authority said the app should revoked. Microsft is not the police and shouldn’t be allowed the same powers.

“If that’s a necessity then you should go, or stay if you have it already, with Android. This will never be supported with Windows Phone. It isn’t only to stop piracy, it’s also to prevent malicious code from infecting phones. If you need this feature for one reason or another you can use the ChevronLabs solution or become a registered developer.”

If you look to my original post, I’m aware of that solution but it’s not free, I still have to pay to be able to do with things with my phone that I should be able to do in the first place. Censorship and giving away my ability to decide what app is good for me is not the way to stop malicious code.
I use Windows 7 in my PC because I think it’s the best OS for me. It’s all an OS should be, a platform where I have complete freedom to do whatever I want.

I know I have the ability to choose another platform and I have, that doesn’t mean I can’t express my opinion about Windows Phone 7. For starters I love the OS, I just don’t like the restrictions. I think the freedom we enjoy in regular Windows should be the same on the phone, all the circunstances are the same, I bought an OS and a machine (PC, phone) why do things have to be different? Because Apple created a closed system first? Closed systems, contrary to what many OSS fans want people to believe, was never a Microsoft strategy on Windows, you could always build on top of Windows without any restriction.

Anonymous

Interesting point, but you are basing it on the assumption that MS was not under order fromt he developer.

http://twitter.com/fganser Nando Ganser

If it’s a pirated software, don’t cry. The autor should be punished. If you don’t like the prices build one app by yourself, if you can not then buy it and if not don’t use it. Simple.
If it’s a legal app then uninstall is unacceptable, but for a pirated is just acceptable.
Anonymous

Android users are starting to read more windows phone news. More android fanbois are visiting this blog! are you guys ready to leave the laggy platform?

http://chmun11.myopenid.com/ SuperJunior

There is a saying, “to fight the war, one must know his enemy”. But then, I think WP7 can’t even match to be Android rival at all…. LOL.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6G3ZZJCHOLYP3S5CRCIHQ7WDSE MVIM

I think this shows that Microsoft is serious about protecting the property of its developers. They should remove pirated applications and prevent their distribution through means necessary if they want developers to trust their marketplace, rather than the free-for-all that is the Android Market.
Anonymous

wow, so microsoft is spying on our phones???????????? why did they say they do not spy our phones?

Anonymous

Erm, do you know something the rest of us don’t. revoking licenses from a central server does not mean MS are spying.

Learn some facts first

http://aveynes.com bndctc

Microsoft really needs to get a proper security system on their Marketplace in order to prevent similar things from happening in the future.

Just look at Nokia’s apps, which are (unofficially) available to other phones as well.

Anonymous

not sure how they will check if an app is legitimatly owned?

http://aveynes.com bndctc

Certification process.
http://aveynes.com bndctc

Certificate verification system.

Anonymous

You’ll find in the material world (in most countries), that any stolen property is returned to the rightful owner regardless of whether you’ve paid for it or not. It is your responsibility to check that it is not stolen.

In this case the app was stolen and distributed by MS. MS is obligated to the owner of the stolen software to retrieve all known stolen copies it has distributed (or “fenced”).

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