Uncomfortable Questions About Android Developer Verification

Summary

Uncomfortable Questions About Android Developer Verification ICEBlock “is an innovative, completely anonymous crowdsourced platform that allows users to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity with just two taps on their phone.” The developer of ICEBlock disclosed his identity. In addition to receiving threats of federal prosecution over the app, the developer has faced other backlash, including his wife being fired from a federal government job. This is one recent example demonstrating that app developer anonymity has impacts and that the lack of such anonymity can cause harm. With that example in mind, and in the spirit of a previous issue, I have some questions with regards to their proposed developer verification program. To Google, these questions might be uncomfortable. Question 1. What considerations were taken into account with regards to developers with legitimate reasons for anonymity? For example, suppose that a developer creates an ICEBlock-like app, but one that supports Android, which ICEBlock does not. Let’s call this workalike app “ICE Scream”. Given the experiences of ICEBlock’s developer, the developer of ICE Scream may have concerns over their identity being disclosed. How would Google like to address such scenarios? Question 2. Which civil society organizations (e.g., EFF and AccessNow in the US) did Google engage with to review your plans, and what were the results of those engagements? Organizations such as these have a long track record of dealing with the balance of equities related to privacy and security. A theoretical developer of “ICE Scream” would be well-advised to try reaching out (anonymously) to such organizations for advice. Similarly, their expertise and outside opinions should be of value to Google while drafting programs such as developer verification, and so one hopes that Google availed themselves of such assistance. How did that go? Question 3. Why does Google’s privacy policy allow Google to share “personal ...