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      Google bans Downloader app after TV firms complain it can load a pirate website

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 23 May, 2023 - 19:13

    Screenshot of the Google home page displayed on Downloader, an Android app with a built-in browser.

    Enlarge / The Downloader app that was suspended from Google Play. (credit: Elias Saba )

    The Google Play Store suspended an app that combines a web browser with a file manager after a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint pointed out that the app is capable of loading a piracy website—even though that same pirate website can be loaded on any standard browser, including Google Chrome.

    The free app , which is designed for Android TV devices and is called Downloader, had been installed from Google Play over 5 million times before its suspension on Friday, an Internet Archive capture shows. The suspension notice that Google sent to Downloader app developer Elias Saba cites a complaint from several Israeli TV companies that said the app "allows users to view the infamous copyright infringing website known as SDAROT."

    Saba provided us with a copy of the suspension notice.

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