Apple Says Millions of Americans Could Suffer from Malware Attacks Because of This

iPhone maker Apple has said this week that antitrust bills could cause millions of Americans to suffer malware attacks.

In a letter on Tuesday the company warned that antitrust bills being considered in the Senate would increase the risk of security breaches to iPhone users.

Apple warned lawmakers that antitrust bills being considered in the Senate would increase the risk of security breaches to iPhone users, in part because they could force it to allow sideloading, where apps are downloaded outside the App Store.

″The bills put consumers in harm’s way because of the real risk of privacy and security breaches,” Apple’s senior director of government affairs, Timothy Powderly, wrote in a letter to the Senate Justice Committee viewed by CNBC.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would not allow dominant platforms from favoring their own products over rivals.

This could create a big problem for companies like Apple and Google, which host rival apps on their app stores alongside their own. It could also cause implications for Amazon, which sells private-label products on its marketplace alongside third-party brands.

Then, the Open App Markets Act, introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would similarly prevent dominant platforms from preferencing their own products, but is focused specifically on app stores.

The bill would prevent companies with dominant app stores, like Apple and Google, from conditioning distribution of an app on whether the developer uses the platform’s in-app payment system.
In the letter, Apple warned that allowing users to sideload apps, as the bills would enable, would be a “big loss for consumers” and said it would allow app developers to ignore Apple’s privacy policies and open the door to attacks from scammers.

“But, if Apple is forced to enable sideloading, millions of Americans will likely suffer malware attacks on their phones that would otherwise have been stopped,” Powderly wrote in the letter.

A spokesperson for Klobuchar disagreed with Apple’s belief and said, “The bill does not force Apple to allow unscreened apps onto Apple devices,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “All of
Apple’s arguments about ‘sideloading’ really amount to a desperate attempt to preserve their app store monopoly, which they use to charge huge fees from businesses they are competing against. Let’s be clear – this multi-trillion dollar company is more that capable of protecting privacy and security while still giving consumers greater choice by allowing competition. The legislation includes strong provisions that all platforms to safeguard user privacy and security.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.