On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a session to amend and then vote on the Open App Markets Act, a bipartisan bill designed to rein in the monopoly power of smartphone app stores—mainly those run by Apple and Google. Notably, the bill would require those companies to allow users of Android and iOS devices to download apps from places other than the Google Play store and Apple App Store, a practice called sideloading.
As you might imagine, Apple and Google and the lobby groups that represent them are trying hard (and spending big) to derail the antitrust bill. The bill may be particularly galling to Apple, which likes to keep tight control of the software on its devices, citing concerns over app security and user privacy. Google, by contrast, already allows users to install apps outside of its Play store.
The Judiciary Committee voted to send the bill on to the full Senate, where leadership will now decide whether to initiate debate. The bill has solid bipartisan…
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Source : fastcompany.com
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