Hi Kevin!

DaringFireball has a short article that may interest you:
http://daringfireball.net/2008/08/core_location_blacklist

Roger Nolan asked about this very point in his comment above – though it got lost in the ‘noise’.

Hopefully even more information will appear that will clarify whats actually going on with the ‘blacklist’ issue you posted about.

Rock on!
peter

At the very least it looks like another bug to me. Does anything actually work on the iPhone?

bluemonq: “it seems a little bit unsavory that during a sync/backup, iTunes can decide to remove the software” — if there was a decision to remove the software during sync. He downloaded it on Saturday. Reports of Netshare being pulled the second time came in Friday night. I can believe the file was still there for him to download, but I did everything he did just at different times, as did others. Unless Terry is being singled out, it looks like a fluke.

@Sumocat: Even if it was a case of timing, it seems a little bit unsavory that during a sync/backup, iTunes can decide to remove the software. He *was* at some point able to use the software, and it’s now disappeared.

I will have to admit, it’s a little curious that nobody else has reported the same thing; what are the odds that NOBODY else downloaded it OTA when it was offered for a second time and then synced the phone with the computer after it was pulled?

Bruno: You obviously didn’t bother to investigate the URL posted on iPhoneAtlas.

Sumocat: Are you referring to the “Malicious Software Removal Tool”? That is a tool that removes known malware, hardly comparable – and even then you can choose not to run it.

T Man: For all the speculation that Apple could remove apps, we seem to have forgotten that Microsoft already does. Microsoft releases a software removal tool with every Windows update.

Why would a general purpose blacklisting file be referenced from CoreLocation? Isn’t it more likely to be a location blacklist?

Well it will be interesting to see where this goes and what the full story is. But I’m sure everyone would give MS the same benefit of the doubt if something like this happened, right? Right? All I hear are crickets…

I guess I really need to read that iTunes EULA that I clicked through yesterday. Fortunately I kept a pdf of it.

Terry has admitted his situation looks like a case of timing, not invasive removal, and his account of the events bears that out. He claims to have downloaded Netshare to his iPhone on Saturday, but it was removed from the iTunes store by then. Removal from the store, however, does not mean all the data was pulled at once. I suspect Terry grabbed the app after it was unpublished, resulting in his thus far unique situation.

I downloaded Netshare straight to my iPhone on Friday, synced my iPhone and downloaded updates from iTunes a few times since then, and tested Netshare yesterday. Worked fine. That said, I did backup a copy of Netshare after reading Terry’s story.

Kevin, please read Terry White’s blog entry again. There is a 2nd update that shows it wasn’t that the program was blacklisted and deliberatly removed, but the way he bought it (on his iPhone over the air), and when he synced it to his computer (after it had been removed from the iTunes Store). It was the sync mechanism process that removed it, and since NetShare was no longer in the store, it could not be recovered. And yes, I still have my copy of NetShare.

That pretty much seals it up for me. Looks like I’ll never be buying an iPhone.

I didn’t bother to read EULA, but aren’t they supposed to ask user agreement before uninstalling? What’s next? Deleting all the contacts who have Microsoft affiliation?

I wondered where my MMS/Videorecording app had gone!