Senate Judiciary advances bill that would force Apple to allow iOS side-loading
Mike PetersonU.S. Capitol Building. Credit: Alejandro Barba/Unsplash
The Open Markets Act, which would force Apple to allow side-loading on iOS, has advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and will now go before the full Senate for a vote.
Members of the Judiciary Committee approved the legislation in a nearly unanimous 21-1 vote on Thursday, according to media reports. Sen. John Cornyn was the only committee member to vote no on the antitrust legislation.
The passage of the Open App Markets Act out of the Senate Judiciary committee brings us one step closer to having this legislation signed into law. This bill will let people download apps directly from outside companies rather than being forced to go through official app stores.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 3, 2022
The Open Markets Act is an antitrust bill that would place additional restrictions on large technology companies like Apple and Google. It would ban those companies from prohibiting side-loading — or downloading apps from outside an official app store — on their platform. In Apple's case, it would allow users to download apps from places other than the App Store.
Additionally, the legislation would also bar companies from requiring developers to use their first-party payment systems and bans the practice of large tech giants using non-public information to compete with other apps.
"By establishing new rules for app stores, this legislation will help level the playing field and ensure an innovative and competitive app marketplace," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, one of the bill's main sponsors. "Now that it has passed the Judiciary Committee with strong bipartisan support, we are one step closer to it passing the Senate and being signed into law."
Apple has been a vocal critic of the legislation, penning multiple letters to members of the Senate Judiciary. According to Apple, the bill would do harm to user privacy, security, and choice unless amended.
The Cupertino tech giant has railed against side-loading. Apple executives have said that side-loading on iOS would create a "gold rush" for malware. It has also issued multiple reports explaining why it thinks side-loading would be bad for iOS users and developers.
Ahead of the vote on Thursday, the bill's advancement from the Senate Judiciary Committee seemed likely. However, the legislation will face a tougher fight when it goes up for a vote before the full Senate.
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48 Comments
The sad thing about members of Congress is that there's no requirement for having a functioning brain. If you're elected, you serve. I would guess that every member of Congress pays technically qualified people to assist them in deciding what to do. Of course every single one of these people, along with lobbyists, has an opinion on what should be done. So do we but we are not heard by Congress. Every single mobile device owned by the US Government has been extensively configured. Android devices are allowed but I doubt the configuration allows side-loading, instead using as secure as possible mobile device management (MDM) system. Non-government users have access to these MDM systems but I doubt more than 0.00001% of non-government and non-commercial users actually use these systems. Once side-loading is allowed, and there better be a setting to disable this ability and it better be set to disable by default, hackers will finally have the ability to bypass these settings (if they weren't there, there wouldn't be a way to bypass them), adding hidden email, message and website malware, totally destroying the entire Apple ecosystem. Every Appleinsider commenter nows this would happen and it would happen on day one. It might still happen even with a heavily locked down MDM system. We've all seen this on the Mac, especially in the early days. It still happens today but mainly from non-certificated apps where the user intentionally bypasses Apple's controls.
We all know we have to follow the money when anything happens in Congress. This isn't an antitrust bill because there's way too many other businesses that do the same thing. It's a money grab by politicians and a push to stop certain companies who might not be paying off politicians enough. I spent the vast majority of my working career protecting computer systems from attack and Apple is providing a service to its customers that Congress doesn't understand while agreeing with a few software companies who are greedy. If Apple is forced to allow side-loading and my iOS devices are compromised, I will be filing a lawsuit against the US Government for forcing Apple to be less secure.
Final comment. The other participants in this idiotic Act are our three-letter agencies who have been fighting for years to get a backdoor into Apple products. Side-loading will be accomplished whenever you log onto a government website or use a government-sponsored (or required) iOS app. Tell me I'm wrong with actual documentation that says these agencies are not funding any of these politicians or providing any of the technical people bogus information to get them to force this change.
Suggestion to Apple: Get ahead of this massive security problem. If anyone can side load any app they want onto their iOS device, that puts every other app at risk from data theft and other hacks. To get around this start working right now on an alternative version of iOS that users can install if they want to, much like the beta profiles you have now. The alternative side loading open iOS has no Apple App Store. It has no access to iCloud, CloudKit or any other technology that could become compromised by apps that have not been through the app review process. Most iOS users (myself included) will opt for the secure version of iOS for their primary devices. For older, otherwise unused devices, the alternative open but unsecure iOS will be a lot of fun to play with. Think of it as another form of recycling. The open iOS does no not need to be updated as often as the main secure version because (duh) it's not secure.
I called my senator's office and very politely, but vehemently, registered my very strong objections to the side-loading feature of this legislation.
If they pass, then regulations should apply to all other retailers. Box stores would need to alert shoppers to lower prices elsewhere. They would have to accept whatever pay method I wanted to pay with. I should be able to place my products on their shelves.