App Stores graver threat to Net freedom than net neutrality breaches: Jimmy Wales

Apple's iOS App Store and other similar app stores act as checkpoints and are therefore 'dangerous, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said.

Wales played down concerns over the infringement of net neutrality and rated the app store model an even bigger hazard to Internet freedom than perceived assaults on net neutrality.

Emphasizing that he's speaking in his personal capacity, Wales said the app store model poses a threat to a diverse and open ecosystem, Wales continued. We own [a] device, and we should control it Appleinsider quoted him as saying at an event in England organized as part of Wikipedia’s 10th anniversary.

Wales says the campaign for net neutrality has overblown some hypothetical threats that don’t pose immediate dangers.

The Net Neutrality campaign is aimed at the creation of neutral Internet where traffic is treated equally. Its champions call for removing restrictions by Internet service providers (ISPs) and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has filed a lawsuit challenging Apple's right to use its 'App Store' trademark, arguing that the term is too generic.