One More Disaster [Updated x 4]
My Secrets has been suddenly removed from sale in the App Store, together with its free version. No word from Apple as to why. I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I will update this post in the process.
Update
I got the following response from iTunes Connect:
Your application was removed from sale due to export compliance issues. You will be contacted by the Apple Export Compliance Team by the end of the week.
I will refrain from commenting it until I have all the details. My gut feeling is that the issue is with the US encryption export laws.
Update 2
After a delay caused by Apple having to set up an internal procedure to handle export compliance rejections My Secrets is back to the App Store. For now it’s available in the US and Canada only.
Update 3
After a two months worth hiatus My Secrets is available in some countries. The rest of the world is due within a month, if the Bureau of Industry and Security can do their job on schedule.
Update 4
The nightmare is over! My Secrets is now officially authorized for export from the US and classified as mass market encryption software. That means it’s available in all App Stores across the globe. Life’s going on!
If you wonder what the heck it’s all about, it took me 3 months to get the US Bureau of Industry and Security to classify My Secrets.
1. Patrick Oonk:
June 15th, 2009
at 18:31
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Why are other apps that also use AES-256 still available outside the US? I am from Holland, we are in the NATO, not some axis-of-evil terrorist state.
2. Konstantin:
June 16th, 2009
at 00:24
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Patrick, I really don’t know. I hope all those apps have been approved by BIS (Bureau of Information Security) for export from the US. The fact is I cannot verify it, nor am I going to query iTunes Connect about their export compliance. Given that Apple’s engineers had explicitly given the green light for the apps using Apple’s encryption framework, I guess we have misinterpreted US export laws.
Apple told me that “you were the first App that had been removed for export reasons so we had to develop a new internal procedure to re-release your product”. That means Apple did not anticipate such problems. That also implies a further delay getting My Secrets available outside the US and Canada. All I can tell is that BIS is as slow as molasses in January, un-fucking-believably slow.
My sincere apologies to everybody who lost access to My Secrets updates/upgrades. I’m doing my best to get my BIS approval as soon as possible.
3. Brendan:
August 15th, 2009
at 02:19
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How long did it take to get export compliance? And did BIS get upset when/if they found out your app was on sale outside the US and Canada without being approved as a mass market encryption product before it got removed by Apple?
Thanks,
Brendan
4. Brendan:
August 30th, 2009
at 05:24
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Yikes! 3 months!!! Care to shed some light on what the big holdup was?
I hope it doesn’t take that long for my app.
Thanks,
Brendan