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Bug #1093

closed

Someone is abusing the alt variant

Added by Giampiero Ammazzini 7 months ago. Updated 7 months ago.

Status:
Closed
Priority:
Critical Bug
Start date:
10/06/2023
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:

Description

Someone published the alt variant you can compile from source, or is impersonating it, behind a paywall of 40€ on PlayStore.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stoutner.privacybrowser.alt

Not sure if this violates the policies or else, it made me feel bad.

Regards Soren.

Actions #1

Updated by Soren Stoutner 7 months ago

  • Status changed from New to Closed
  • Private changed from Yes to No

Thanks for the heads up. Privacy Browser is released under the GPLv3+. Among other things, that gives anyone the right to sell a forked version for any amount of money they like. However, to do so, they must comply with the GPLv3+ license. In this case, it appears that they haven't published the source code of their changes, which would make them out of compliance.

I have sent them the following email:

Tekin Studio,

My name is Soren Stoutner.  I am the developer of Privacy Browser.  I noticed that you have posted a clone of Privacy Browser Android on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stoutner.privacybrowser.alt

Privacy Browser Android is released under the GPLv3+ license.  To be in compliance with this license you must release the source code of all of your changes under the GPLv3 or GPLv3+.
I have been unable to discover your source code repository.  I would request that you please provide a link to it and also post it in a place that is easy for others to discover.

Currently, your app uses the app ID of com.stoutner.privacybrowser.alt.  This is an app ID that is already used by the test version of my app available at
https://www.stoutner.com/privacy-browser-android/changelog/.  Using this app ID is inappropriate of you because you do not own the com.stoutner.privacybrowser domain.
Please change your app ID to use a domain that belongs to you.

If you address the two issues above you are welcome to continue selling your forked version for whatever price people are willing to pay you.
That right is available to anyone who complies with the GPLv3+ license.  However, if you do not address these issues I will request that Google remove your app from their store.

Sincerely,

Soren Stoutner

You can post on the forum in the future if you become aware of anyone else publishing for free or selling a fork of Privacy Browser who does not appear to be in compliance with the GPLv3+.

Actions #2

Updated by Soren Stoutner 7 months ago

I just checked and this posting on Google Play has been taken down.

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