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Sina Technology News Beijing time on January 19 morning news, Apple senior government affairs director Timothy Powderly (Timothy Powderly) sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, warning that two antitrust bills under consideration in the Senate will increase iPhone users are at risk of security breaches, in part because the bills could force the company to allow so-called “sideloading,” which allows users to download apps through channels other than the App Store.
Apple’s move shows the company’s growing concerns about the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act, which are scheduled to be announced this week. review.
“These bills will put consumers at risk because they do pose a real risk of privacy and security violations,” Baldley wrote in the letter.
The proposed bill may have a significant impact
Over the past few years, Apple has come under constant scrutiny from regulators for its control of the App Store. The App Store is the only way users can install software on their iPhones, and Apple takes a 15% to 30% cut on digital purchases made through iPhone apps.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act was created by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Chuck Grassley) would prohibit dominant platforms from crushing competitors in favor of their own products.
The bill could have major ramifications for companies like Apple and Google, which host rival apps in their own app stores; Amazon, which sells its own-brand products on its platform, will also be affected. Competitive relationship with third-party brands.
The Open App Market Act, sponsored by Connecticut Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal and Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, would also prevent occupation Dominant platforms favor their own products, but this bill specifically targets app stores.
For companies that dominate app stores, such as Apple and Google, for example, the bill would prevent those companies from restricting the distribution of apps based on whether developers use their platforms’ in-app payment systems.
Malware attack
Apple argues that the company’s rules are critical to user safety. The company has consistently said that its control of the App Store is critical to providing customers with a safe and private experience; without it, users could mistakenly install malware. By contrast, Android phones allow users to “sideload” apps, but users must agree to several warning pop-ups in the software to download them.
In a letter issued on Tuesday, Apple warned of “enormous consumer losses” if users were allowed to “sideload” apps as required by the bills, saying it would allow app developers to ignore the The company’s privacy policy and leaves the door open to scammers.
“If Apple were forced to enable sideloading, millions of Americans’ phones could be exposed to malware attacks that would have been prevented without sideloading,” Baldley wrote in the letter.
Apple argues that the bills should allow the company to defend its rules, which “increase consumer welfare.”
Google’s chief legal officer, Kent Walker, also blogged on Tuesday that the bills could prevent the company from integrating automated security features, or make it harder if the company is forced to cut the connection between products Detect product safety risks, thereby reducing product safety. He also said the bills could force Google to share sensitive data with other companies, while the Google Play Store and search engine “may have to give the same amount of spam and low-quality service.”
Walker also argued that the bills would disadvantage American innovation and ultimately hurt the consumers and small businesses that use its services.
Small companies back new bill
Still, more than 30 companies signed a letter in support of the Klobuchar-Grasley Act on Tuesday, saying the dominant platforms’ favoritism for their own products “prevents companies like ours from competing fairly” The companies that signed the letter, including Basecamp, DuckDuckGo, Genius, Neeva, Proton, Sonos, and Yelp, compete with big tech companies, many of which have spoken out about the issue in the past and even sued some big companies.
Both bills are scheduled to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, which could propose changes and possibly vote on them. But even if the committee fails to vote on the bills, Senate leadership will have to make time for a vote on both bills amid a mountain of other pressing issues.
Tech-funded groups have been vocally opposed to the Klobuchar-led bill, such as the center-left Chamber of Progress, which warned consumers that it would prevent Amazon from passing its Prime subscription service Free shipping on select products. But Klobuchar’s office says that’s simply not true. Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) are all supporters of the chamber.
Another tech-industry-backed group, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, has called for Congress to delay the hearing, originally scheduled for last week. Aurelien Portuese, the foundation’s competition policy director, said in a statement: “This bill will create unfair competition, limit the innovative capacity of online platforms and harm consumers.”