Reading List
The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.
Apple Passwords Adds History
Dutch Antitrust Lawsuit Over App Store Fees
WorkOS Radar
My thanks to WorkOS for sponsoring last week at DF. Does your app get fake signups, throwaway emails, or users abusing your free tier? Or worse, bot attacks and brute force attempts?
WorkOS Radar can block all this and more. A simple API gives you advanced device fingerprinting that can detect bad actors, bots, and suspicious behavior. Your users trust you. WorkOS Radar lets you keep it that way.
Russia Blocks FaceTime and Snapchat
Dasha Litvinova, reporting for the AP:
Russian authorities said Thursday they have imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service FaceTime, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet and communications online. State internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged in a statement that the service is being “used to organize and conduct terrorist activities on the territory of the country, to recruit perpetrators (and) commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens.” Apple did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
The Russian regulator also announced that it has blocked Snapchat, a messaging app for sharing photos, videos and text messages, citing the same grounds it gave for restricting FaceTime. It said that it took the action Oct. 10 even though it only reported the move on Thursday.
I’m sure the crime rate in Russia will soon plummet. (I’m curious why iMessage isn’t blocked too.)
Update: A DF reader in Russia, who has sent me feedback before, told me that iMessage still works (and in fact told me via iMessage), but that it likely hasn’t been blocked because it isn’t widely used there. (He said that his chat with me is his one and only iMessage thread.) FaceTime, on the other hand, is quite popular in Russia. Or at least it was.