It looks like some Italian devs are playing a little game with Apple. They get WPA finder apps approved, then when the Cupertino company realizes what they are, they yank them for violating store guidelines.
Right now, one that lets you guess the default password of common routers so that you can log on to a stranger’s network is available in iTunes for $0.99.
Depending on your intentions, the app can be used to get some juice for email-on-the-go for the downloader or potentially to steal passwords or other information from someone else’s computer.
This now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t game has been going on for a while if the number of once-approved apps that are no longer available is anything to go by.
The most recent example: on May 22, Apple pulled a couple of WPA finder apps. On May 24,
it approved Alice WPA finder. (As of this writing, it is still available both in the U.S. and Italian stores).
While the reach of this particular app is decidedly limited — it only works for Italy’s national Alice Network — it is unclear why it isn’t in violation of those guidelines just like all the others.
Developer Andrea Tondo describes the app in Italian as being useful for anyone who needs to recover a lost WPA, but the title of the app, which is in English, marks it pretty obviously useful as a way to sniff out the WPAs of other people, too.
In a nod to legality, this one also has a disclaimer (in Italian, translation mine) reminding users to play nice. “Please note that unauthorized access to a computer system is a punishable offense…”
It brings up again, yes, nagging questions about who is approving the apps (bleary-eyed interns in a cramped cubicle?) and why Apple doesn’t have a more comprehensive policy that keeps stuff that shouldn’t be approved in the first place from entering the store.
We’ll keep you posted.
Via iPhoneItalia
