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Why is Google allowed to remove purchases from our Play Store accounts without telling us?
(www.androidpolice.com)
this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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They’re not purchases, they’re leases.
Edit: it’s actually that you purchase access to their license of the media.
You're correct, of course, but I think if a company uses the term "purchase" or "buy" up front and center, that it should be considered one.
FWIW, before posting this, I looked around on the Google Play Store and they are suspiciously hesitant to actually use those words. Their top charts are "paid," going to a "Paid" app just shows the price, etc. But despite showing a link to their terms of service, they never state that it is a lease.
Edit: Sorry, meant to reply to the comment above you!
They're not really leases either. Leases last for a defined period of time, like "one year," or they renew at regular intervals, like "monthly." "Pay up front and we'll let you keep this license for either forever or until we decide to revoke it without notifying you" isn't the same thing.
Same thing that Sony did with movies on the PS. “You’re buying a revocable licence”
Pretty much all the big tech firms have done this. The problem is we only blame the middlemen. We blame Sony or Amazon, or Google or whoever. But the companies providing the licenses for them to "sell" are a big part of the problem. And nobody ever wants to listen when I say this but they should be on the hook too. Like, I appreciate that it's messed up to have your purchased media shadow ganked. But at the same time it's fucked up to have the licensing agreements be what they are to start with and that's absolutely on companies that own the rights to digital media. Who continue to lobby to maintain the status quo.
All they will do is call it purshaces or some other made up bs
Well, they’re “purchases” of a license that can be revoked at any time for any reason.
Are they really? Didn't you press a button that said "Buy"? Just because they want things to be something else, doesn't mean that the meaning of the words changed.
I've just had a look on the Play Store, and they notably don't use the word "buy" anywhere that I can see. The button to "buy" the app is just a button with the price on it, and clicking through that it uses the language of "install".
Can't help but think that that's deliberate.
On some storefronts the relevant button is labelled "Get"
It's also a private company and they can do whatever they want on their platform and their property.
It's like renting space in an apartment .... don't be surprised if the landlord decides to change the agreements and do things you don't like. You're renting things, you don't own anything.
You can't arbitrarily change agreements for renting without consent or lease renewal. At least not in civilized countries.
You can do whatever the hell you want when you pay Congress.
Your argument is cargo-cult libertarian bullshit. There are lots of things private entities can't do on "their property!" Murdering visitors, for example. Fraudulently claiming a sale isn't really a sale is right up there with that in terms of how clear-cut the rule is.
What we have here is squarely a failure of the FTC to do its goddamn job. Nothing more, nothing less.
I think everyone took there comment in the wrong light. They're not defending Google, but rather pointing out that this behavior should be expected from a for profit company, and thus people should have avoided the situation in the first place. Not that it should be that way, but we live under capitalism unfortunately, and people need to be way more skeptical of these companies.
Rather than blaming inaction of the FTC, why not just stop using play store all together and encourage people to use Fdroid instead? Companies will never stop abusing 'e-goods' , it's just not going to happen. People should just get beyond ownership and embrace the advantages of free software.
Does that single landlord control every apartment in the country? That is Google's level of monopoly.