Programmer Jamie Zawinski "responsibly" approached the company's order to provide a privacy policy.
Google Play, the company's Android app store, requires developers to maintain a privacy policy even for apps that don't collect user data. Jamie Zawinski, responsible for developing the XScreenSaver app, used this requirement to express his opinion about Google.
As Google itself puts it: "The privacy Policy should fully disclose how your app collects, uses, and transmits user data. This includes, among other things, the types of parties with whom it shares information." It is unlikely that the company thought that its own requirements would be used against it.
"Unlike Google, XScreenSaver does not collect user data," the app's privacy policy begins. "Unlike Google, XScreenSaver doesn't use user data because it doesn't collect it."
The policy then turns into a detailed list of 70 items, where Zawinski accuses Google of all the deadly sins, including various privacy violations and unethical business conduct.
The company is accused of tracking users, collecting data, and partnering with authoritarian states. It also mentions the promotion of misinformation, strange tips from a proprietary neural network, such as using pizza glue, and the integration of an advertising platform to track users directly in a web browser.
"XScreenSaver for Android is a collection of screen savers and live wallpapers. That is all. The app draws beautiful pictures on your screen. And it's free. But Google, the biggest privacy violator on the planet, decided that the app couldn't be available in their store without a privacy policy," explains Zawinski.
The additional irony of the situation is that the Google Play Store itself directly refers to this sarcastic privacy policy from the app page, apparently without taking enough time to check its content.
"Great news! Google has approved the updated XScreenSaver privacy policy. I assume this means that they believe it to be true and fully support it, " Zawinski happily wrote in a post on Mastodon.
Jamie Werner Zawinski, also known as "jwz" — is an American programmer and entrepreneur, co-founder of Netscape and Mozilla.org. He often criticizes various practices in the tech industry.
The XScreenSaver application is not very popular yet and has only 5 thousand downloads. However, some users have already noticed changes in the privacy policy and supported the developer in reviews, approaching the situation with humor.
As Google itself explains, requiring a privacy policy helps provide transparency about how the app developer handles sensitive user and device data. However, it is unlikely that the "corporation of good" could think that someone would be able to use its own requirements against itself.
This case clearly demonstrates that even the strictest corporate rules can be used against their creators as an act of civil protest. Where there is creativity and integrity, there will always be ways to convey your position, even when large companies are trying to dictate their terms.
Google Play, the company's Android app store, requires developers to maintain a privacy policy even for apps that don't collect user data. Jamie Zawinski, responsible for developing the XScreenSaver app, used this requirement to express his opinion about Google.
As Google itself puts it: "The privacy Policy should fully disclose how your app collects, uses, and transmits user data. This includes, among other things, the types of parties with whom it shares information." It is unlikely that the company thought that its own requirements would be used against it.
"Unlike Google, XScreenSaver does not collect user data," the app's privacy policy begins. "Unlike Google, XScreenSaver doesn't use user data because it doesn't collect it."
The policy then turns into a detailed list of 70 items, where Zawinski accuses Google of all the deadly sins, including various privacy violations and unethical business conduct.
The company is accused of tracking users, collecting data, and partnering with authoritarian states. It also mentions the promotion of misinformation, strange tips from a proprietary neural network, such as using pizza glue, and the integration of an advertising platform to track users directly in a web browser.
"XScreenSaver for Android is a collection of screen savers and live wallpapers. That is all. The app draws beautiful pictures on your screen. And it's free. But Google, the biggest privacy violator on the planet, decided that the app couldn't be available in their store without a privacy policy," explains Zawinski.
The additional irony of the situation is that the Google Play Store itself directly refers to this sarcastic privacy policy from the app page, apparently without taking enough time to check its content.
"Great news! Google has approved the updated XScreenSaver privacy policy. I assume this means that they believe it to be true and fully support it, " Zawinski happily wrote in a post on Mastodon.
Jamie Werner Zawinski, also known as "jwz" — is an American programmer and entrepreneur, co-founder of Netscape and Mozilla.org. He often criticizes various practices in the tech industry.
The XScreenSaver application is not very popular yet and has only 5 thousand downloads. However, some users have already noticed changes in the privacy policy and supported the developer in reviews, approaching the situation with humor.
As Google itself explains, requiring a privacy policy helps provide transparency about how the app developer handles sensitive user and device data. However, it is unlikely that the "corporation of good" could think that someone would be able to use its own requirements against itself.
This case clearly demonstrates that even the strictest corporate rules can be used against their creators as an act of civil protest. Where there is creativity and integrity, there will always be ways to convey your position, even when large companies are trying to dictate their terms.
