Indie Developers Outraged as Google Requires a Published Physical Address on Play Store

Discussion in 'Android News' started by dgstorm, Sep 19, 2014.

Page 1 of 3
  1. dgstorm

    dgstorm Editor in Chief
    Staff Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2010
    Messages:
    11,009
    Likes Received:
    3,969
    Trophy Points:
    823
    Location:
    Austin, TX
    Ratings:
    +4,244
    [​IMG]​

    Something is amiss in Google-land. Google just announced a new policy which has independent developers enraged, and for good reason. As of September 30th, 2014, Google will now require all developers to publish a physical address on the Google Play Store. This is for anyone who wants to host their app on the Google Play Store, and applies to paid apps or apps with in-app purchases. You can see the details in the screen grab below.

    [​IMG]​

    Keep in mind that this must be a "physical address," so a Post Office Box won't work. This is wrong on so many levels, it's baffling to fathom that Google would make such a request. Google claims they are doing this to “comply with consumer protection laws,” but this hardly makes sense when you consider that eBay and iTunes are not laying out the same requirements. Could this be a situation in which Google is simply the first to comply with new laws that we don't know about?

    Regardless, this is a major invasion of privacy and is a blatant security issue. This makes sense for a larger, big name developer with multiple employees in an office, but small individual developers would basically need to publish their home address. Imagine a (not so unbelievable) scenario in which a mentally ill customer decides to show up at the house of a developer, just because he happens to live in the same city.

    What do you think of this terrible situation? For now indie devs should write a letter to Google, and hope that they decide to reverse course before September 30th.

    Source: AndroidAuthority
     
    #1 dgstorm, Sep 19, 2014
    • Like Like x 2
  2. realged13

    realged13 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2010
    Messages:
    157
    Likes Received:
    83
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Location:
    NC
    Ratings:
    +96
    Wow, that is really interesting. Surely they are not going to go through with this.
     
    #2 realged13, Sep 19, 2014
  3. gflam

    gflam Developer
    Theme Developer Developer

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Messages:
    1,900
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Jersey
    Ratings:
    +34
    What prevents someone from putting a fake address? Like what would prevent me from putting Google's address besides the fact that they probably check their own but still why not put some bs address of some random company?
     
    #3 gflam, Sep 19, 2014
  4. xeene

    xeene Gold Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2010
    Messages:
    3,449
    Likes Received:
    1,034
    Trophy Points:
    208
    Location:
    detroit, usa
    Ratings:
    +1,186
    What will stop dev to submit "some" address?
     
    #4 xeene, Sep 19, 2014
    • Like Like x 1
  5. gflam

    gflam Developer
    Theme Developer Developer

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Messages:
    1,900
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Jersey
    Ratings:
    +34
    Ha exactly my thoughts xeene, I vote we all just put Google's address
     
    #5 gflam, Sep 19, 2014
    • Like Like x 2
  6. cereal killer

    cereal killer Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2009
    Messages:
    11,396
    Likes Received:
    1,280
    Trophy Points:
    558
    Location:
    Austin, TX
    Ratings:
    +1,427
    Current Phone Model:
    Nokia Lumia Icon
    Just get a PO Box..but I understand the outrage.
     
    #6 cereal killer, Sep 19, 2014
    • Like Like x 1
  7. gflam

    gflam Developer
    Theme Developer Developer

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Messages:
    1,900
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Jersey
    Ratings:
    +34
    From the story:
    "Keep in mind that this must be a "physical address," so a Post Office Box won't work."
     
    #7 gflam, Sep 19, 2014
  8. bazar6

    bazar6 Premium Member
    Theme Developer Premium Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2009
    Messages:
    681
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    MD
    Ratings:
    +14
    I have two paid themes in the Play Store (which I sadly haven't updated in a long time) and my Dev profile doesn't have an address box. It is in the Merchant Account though, not sure if that matters.

    I was going to try the above recommendations, and use one of Google's addresses in Ashburn, VA (21691 Filigree Ct, Ashburn, VA 20147) which is one of their data centers.

    *nevermind, I see it "begins Sept 30th". I'll check then.
     
    #8 bazar6, Sep 19, 2014
  9. gflam

    gflam Developer
    Theme Developer Developer

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Messages:
    1,900
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Jersey
    Ratings:
    +34
    True it would really suck if they did the smart thing and used your billing address automatically, wouldn't really be much of a way around that since it'd be connected to your bank account.
     
    #9 gflam, Sep 19, 2014
  10. LoneWolfArcher

    LoneWolfArcher Silver Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2009
    Messages:
    1,810
    Likes Received:
    483
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Ratings:
    +640
    This could end badly.
     
    #10 LoneWolfArcher, Sep 19, 2014
  11. badtoy1986

    badtoy1986 Active Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2010
    Messages:
    134
    Likes Received:
    31
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Ratings:
    +44
    Why is this a bad thing. They are not going to publish this to anyone. It is simply a way for a consumer with an issue to submit a lawsuit. Without a real address who do you serve the lawsuit to? This way you can subpoena Google for the publishers address.
     
    #11 badtoy1986, Sep 19, 2014
  12. mountainbikermark

    mountainbikermark Super Moderator
    Staff Member Premium Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2010
    Messages:
    7,451
    Likes Received:
    3,888
    Trophy Points:
    1,563
    Ratings:
    +4,350
    My brother has a small bicycle repair shop he runs out of his garage. To get bikes and parts at discount from manufacturers ans dealers he must have a physical address located in a non residential area. He got with a buddy who owns a car repair shop and rents enough space for one of his business cards to be taped to the front window for $1 per decade. Dealers and suppliers don't know the details except he uses that address for his business address even though the stuff ships somewhere else.


    Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk
     
    #12 mountainbikermark, Sep 19, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2014
    • Like Like x 1
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 3

Latest Threads

 
Title Start Date
Replies Views
Last Message
  1. Crish Harish

    Dial-1-888-599-2566-Sbcglobal Email Settings on Iphone

    Crish Harish, Sep 23, 2019 at 1:28 AM
    Replies:
    0
    Views:
    42
    Crish Harish
    Sep 23, 2019 at 1:28 AM
  2. SMYDSMITH

    Z2 force finally got a screen scratch when dropped on subway

    SMYDSMITH, Aug 28, 2019
    Replies:
    21
    Views:
    6,791
    bruben7886
    Sep 22, 2019 at 10:52 PM
  3. Sajo

    Last Post Wins Version 3

    Sajo, Aug 24, 2017
    Replies:
    8,924
    Views:
    448,211
    bruben7886
    Sep 22, 2019 at 10:42 PM
  4. Sajo

    Start a word with the third letter (game)

    Sajo, May 28, 2019
    Replies:
    1,111
    Views:
    100,697
    kmf1
    Sep 22, 2019 at 9:49 PM
  5. Sajo

    The First Thing That Comes To Mind (Game)

    Sajo, Jun 3, 2019
    Replies:
    939
    Views:
    94,937
    kmf1
    Sep 22, 2019 at 9:49 PM
  6. DaDroidDude

    Note 10+ lock screen.

    DaDroidDude, Sep 20, 2019 at 9:35 PM
    Replies:
    7
    Views:
    1,028
    bkdodger
    Sep 22, 2019 at 8:07 AM
  7. TreFiDDy

    Favorite car(s)

    TreFiDDy, Jun 18, 2011
    Replies:
    53
    Views:
    10,807
    ukyfan
    Sep 21, 2019 at 5:24 PM
  8. pc747

    Congrats to BK and Preach2k

    pc747, Aug 5, 2019
    Replies:
    27
    Views:
    9,998
    bkdodger
    Sep 21, 2019 at 12:04 PM
Loading...
Search tags for this page

android developer physical address

,

android indie developer

,

google android play store requires developer account

,

google play physical address

,

google play real address developers

,

google requires developer adress

,

google requires developers to list physical address

,

google requires phisical adress

,

google requires physical address for play account