Notification of Google Play Developer Account Suspension

Un mese fa ho ricevuto una email da parte di Google che alcune applicazioni da me sviluppate e presenti sul Play Store violavano le policy:

Titolo: Notification from Google Play

Contenuto:

This is a notification that your application, Stunt Car 3D, with package ID it.androidhd.stuntcar3d, has been removed from the Google Play Store.

REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the Personal and Confidential Information provision of the Content Policy.Please refer to thepolicy help article for more information.

We don’t allow unauthorized publishing or disclosure of people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, government identification numbers, driver’s and other license numbers, non-public contacts, or any other information that is not publicly accessible.

After a regular review, we have determined that your app collects information on the apps installed on the user’s device without their knowledge and informed consent. This is in violation of the policy provision above. Please see our Personal and Confidential Information help center article for more information.

This particular app has been disabled as a policy strike. If your developer account is still in good standing, you may revise and upload a policy compliant version of this application as a new package name.

This notification also serves as notice for remaining, unsuspended violations in your catalog, and you may avoid further app suspensions by immediately unpublishing any apps in violation of (but not limited to) the above policy. Once you have resolved any existing violations, you may republish the app(s) at will. Before publishing applications, please ensure your apps’ compliance with the Developer Distribution Agreement and Content Policy.

All violations are tracked. Serious or repeated violations of any nature will result in the termination of your developer account, and investigation and possible termination of related Google accounts. If your account is terminated, payments will cease and Google may recover the proceeds of any past sales and the cost of any associated fees (such as chargebacks and payment transaction fees) from you.

If you feel we have made this determination in error, you can visit this Google Play Help Center article for additional information regarding this removal.

 

Ho ricevuto una mail per ogni applicazione che violava le policy. Di conseguenza ho iniziato a cercare una soluzione al problema e ho avvisato Google rispondendo alla stessa mail del fatto che mi ero messo al lavoro per fixare il problema.

A distanza di un mese ho ricevuto un’altra mail dove mi si diceva che una delle mie applicazioni era stata rimossa dal Play Store.

 

Titolo: Notification from Google Play

Contenuto:

This is a notification that your application, Impossible Particles, with package ID it.androidhd.impossibleparticles, has been removed from the Google Play Store.

REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the Personal and Confidential Information provision of the Content Policy.Please refer to thepolicy help article for more information.

We don’t allow unauthorized publishing or disclosure of people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, government identification numbers, driver’s and other license numbers, non-public contacts, or any other information that is not publicly accessible.

After a regular review, we have determined that your app collects information on the apps installed on the user’s device without their knowledge and informed consent. This is in violation of the policy provision above. Please see our Personal and Confidential Information help center article for more information.

This particular app has been disabled as a policy strike. If your developer account is still in good standing, you may revise and upload a policy compliant version of this application as a new package name.

This notification also serves as notice for remaining, unsuspended violations in your catalog, and you may avoid further app suspensions by immediately unpublishing any apps in violation of (but not limited to) the above policy. Once you have resolved any existing violations, you may republish the app(s) at will. Before publishing applications, please ensure your apps’ compliance with the Developer Distribution Agreement and Content Policy.

All violations are tracked. Serious or repeated violations of any nature will result in the termination of your developer account, and investigation and possible termination of related Google accounts. If your account is terminated, payments will cease and Google may recover the proceeds of any past sales and the cost of any associated fees (such as chargebacks and payment transaction fees) from you.

If you feel we have made this determination in error, you can visit this Google Play Help Center article for additional information regarding this removal.

The Google Play Team

Non avevo ancora trovato una soluzione al problema (si trattava di un problema legato al software che ho utilizzato per sviluppare alcuni giochi). Quindi a distanza di circa due settimane ricevo un’altra mail dove mi avvisavano di aver bloccato completamente il mio account (comprese le applicazioni che non violavano la privacy, per un totale di una ventina di app).

 

Titolo: Notification of Google Play Developer Account Suspension

Contenuto:

This is a notification that your Google Play Publisher account has been terminated.

REASON FOR TERMINATION: Multiple violations of the Content Policy and Developer Distribution Agreement as outlined in previous emails sent to the registered email address of your Publisher account.

Please note that Google Play Publisher terminations are associated with developers, and may span multiple account registrations and related Google services. If you feel we have made an error, you can visit the Google Play Help Center article for additional information regarding this termination.

Please do not attempt to register a new developer account. We will not be restoring your account at this time.

The Google Play Team

Ho provato a contattarli raccontandogli delle difficoltà che stavo riscontrando nel risolvere il problema, ma ho ricevuto una mail di risposta in cui mi dicevano che qualcuno aveva confermato la scelta di terminare il mio account di sviluppatore e che non avrei dovuto aprirne altri, altrimenti sarebbero stati sospesi anch’essi:

Contenuto:

Hi,

Thank you for your note.
After reviewing your appeal, we have confirmed our initial decision and will not be reinstating your developer account.

Your Google Play Developer account has been terminated due to multiple policy violations by this or associated accounts. For more information on the app removals that lead to this termination please refer to the REASON FOR REMOVAL section(s) of notification emails sent to the registered address(es) of your developer account(s). You may also review the Content Policy and the Developer Distribution Agreement.

Note that Google Play Developer Console terminations are associated with developers, and may span multiple account registrations and related Google services. Do not attempt to register a new developer account. Any subsequent registrations will be closed and your developer registration fee will not be refunded.

We are unable to provide further details and will not respond to additional inquiries. We recommend that you utilize an alternative method for distributing your apps in the future.

Regards,

The Google Play Team

Vi ho raccontato la mia esperienza per mettervi in guardia. Mi sono informato su Google (e dove altrimenti?) e ho letto che tanti altri sviluppatori in tutto il mondo hanno avuto un trattamento simile. Per coloro che non fossero del settore, per uno sviluppatore, una situazione simile equivale ad un licenziamento a vita.

Per concludere: Google ha ormai il potere di farvi crescere professionalmente e di terminare la vostra carriera con la facilità di un click (o probabilmente di un algoritmo automatico). Sviluppatori tutti, aprite gli occhi ed iniziate a considerare altre forme di distribuzione come l’App Shop di Amazon.