Windows Phone Marketplace works...pirated software promptly removed

Arrggggh!

An interesting thing happened yesterday that nosotros chose to not encompass in detail. In short, someone published an app to the Windows Telephone Market place that was pirated. Specifically it was a favorite GPS navigation app that cost a expert amount of money. The person responsible presumably ripped the original XAP from the Marketplace and simply re-submitted it, pawning it off every bit their ain.

Did they try to make money from it? Nope, they did something possibly worse--they offered it for gratuitous.

Word spread in individual forums and especially on some foreign Windows Phone sites, resulting in lots of folks downloading the app, confirming information technology was a existent working version, un-crippled. Many users were ecstatic saving and so much coin, many of us were appalled. How does app security interruption down and so badly for this to happen? The expert news, as you lot can infer from the title, was the Microsoft was on top of the problem from early on on. Nosotros contacted Microsoft's Brandon Watson on the matter, and he responded:

"We identified this situation, through our normal monitoring processes, before today and both removed (unpublished) the app from the catalog and revoked the app from users who downloaded it. Since cache refresh times vary by land and handset, this may not be immediately visible but will be within the next 24-48 hours."

Sure enough, but a few hours subsequently the app disappeared from the Marketplace, the uploader's account presumably was terminated (nosotros can't find it anymore) and anyone who has the app installed, will take it revoked very before long, if not already. That final part is always interesting: Microsoft tin and evidently volition prevent y'all from running whatever illegal app on your telephone. So continue that in mind side by side time you recall you can sneak away with your bounty (should y'all be tempted).

At present, it still seems odd and unfortunate that people can pirate things and simply re-upload them to the Marketplace, and certainly that is something that can be improved. But at least when these things exercise happen, Microsoft seems to take a quick response (~24 hours) and technically, no one got away with anything, including all of those who downloaded it.

Could things be amend? Sure, they always can. Perhaps a more streamlined method to report piracy in the future could exist instantiated, merely at this point information technology seems similar a rare thing to happen--let's hope it stays that manner.