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Google’s stated policy has always been “Don’t Be Evil.” But it really should say, “Don’t Be Evil, Unless Unduly Pressured By Someone Else.”

Google recently suspended the accounts of two app developers and subsequently pulled every single app they ever made from the Google Market. This was all done without any warning whatsoever, Wired reported.

One of the two programmers in question actually first heard about his suspension by people tweeting him to say they couldn’t find his apps.

Apparently, the two developers have made emulator apps that let users play games from other platforms, such as PlayStation consoles. The problem with this is that Sony recently released the Xperia Play Android-powered phone-slash-PlayStation controller and has put out all sorts of old PlayStation games as apps in the Google Market that are supposed to be only used on “PlayStation Certified” equipment, of which the Xperia Play is currently the only one. It is not hard to do the math here.
Google’s pitch for the Android mobile platform rests on a single, oft-repeated word: “Open.” But to some Android developers, the search giant’s recent practices at its app store have been anything but open.

The word open speaks directly to the hacker ethos — open source software is made to be shared, pored over and freely distributed. Open networks were made to be entered, explored and (occasionally) exploited. Open markets, self-governed. For better or for worse, it’s pure libertarianism at its finest.

Pay no attention to the article, it is 100% factually wrong. Emulators
are still up, and are still objectively legal. These specific
emulators and this specific author was removed because he (in a very
basic sense) stole code from other programmers and then sold it as his
own. Plagiarism and fraud. The PSX emulator was removed because the
guy was stupid enough to use sony's trademarked logo all over it.