My point is in an environment like the US, removing the App Store is effectively removed any and all oversight in situations where an organization can mandate the installation of apps. The government isn’t going to protect us with legislation- the fact that there is bipartisan agreement about TikTok is very telling. It means lawmakers know how these devices can track, it just didn’t matter until that data could potentially fall into the hands to a hostile superpower.
Universities can say “hey, you have to install this app to ‘register’ your device with us” that gives us far more power and data than Apple would ever allow, even on a device with a management profile and add “unregistered devices” to the contraband that RAs search for.
They wouldn’t even have to come up with this idea themselves. I’ve no doubt multiple SaaS vendors would be hawking this to college administrations within a year or two. It’s untenable now because of Apples market share.
That's why the eventual fall of Apple's control of the App Store concerns me. While I think it's ethically dubious for Apple to control what you install on your device, in practice getting rid of it opens the door for institutions like these with an outsized amount of influence on people's agency and autonomy to suddenly be in a position where they can force the installation of apps that don't have to follow Apple's relatively consumer friendly rules. That's very scary to me, and I think universities would be one of the first places to take full advantage. They have the perfect mix of compliant, infantilized customers who are used to being told what to do and maladaptive incentives of university administrations.
When I look at the app Life360, and how many kids (into their teens and even 20s) were forced to be tracked every single place they were by their parents for their childhood, I see a much bigger version of that happening here.