Android Kill Switch and Shifting Boundaries Between Vendors and Customers
In an earlier post I argued that Google shouldn't be yanking applications off our Android phones but at the same time we need to be cognizant of the potential threats from malware. The more I think about this the more I see the distinction between hosted services and private services blurring.
First, I need to clarify an earlier post on the Android kill switch. The kill switch will remove only programs installed from Android Market, not others users have downloaded from the Web. If an application turns out to be a Trojan, Google reserves the right to remove it.
This isn't too far removed from an application host provider removing malicious code from one of its servers running your applications. It definitely isn't the same thing but it's close enough to raise the question of how boundaries between users, vendors and service providers may shift with new deployment technologies.
For another perspective on the Andriod kill switch that comes to similar conclusions about malware see David A. Sampayo at Technologizer's thoughtful post on the difference between the Andriod and iPhone kill switches in which he concludes:
Overall, I would compare Google's decision to remotely disable troublesome apps more to its malware detection service than to Apple's kill switch.
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