Being a developer Android apps in the Google Play store is not easy. Developers must follow strict business principles regarding security in particular. Many developers complain about these rules because their enforcement is said to be unpredictable. As a result, according to them, applications are also removed from the store, the authors of which are said to be trying to follow these principles in good faith. The latest such case appears to be an app that allegedly promotes piracy. More precisely, by containing a web browser.
Downloader is a popular application for the system Android A TV that is designed to solve one of the main problems faced by advanced users: how to easily transfer files to a device with this system to sideload applications. For this purpose, the application includes a remote browser that allows users to easily retrieve files from websites.
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The problem is that the app has been filed with a DMCA (short for American Copyright Act) complaint by a law firm representing a large number of Israeli television companies, which claims that the app can load a pirated website and that a number of people use it to access content without paying for it. The app's developer, Elias Saba, said he had nothing to do with the pirate site in question and that Google had rejected his first appeal. He added that the user's app only links to the home page of his own AFTVnews website, and nowhere else.
Saba filed an appeal shortly after receiving a DMCA complaint through the Play Console, but Google immediately dismissed it. He then filed a second one using Google's DMCA objection form, but has yet to receive a response.
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In a series of tweets by Saba he argued, that if a browser can be removed because it can load a pirated page, then every browser in Google Play should be removed along with it. He also stated that he "expected Google to make some effort to filter out unfounded DMCA complaints like the one he received, not to back down." His arguments sound logical, but if they are heard, he may have to wait for months.
