No tethering for you!
Google has removed a number of applications from the Android Market that allow users to tether their handsets to other devices in order to share an Internet connection, including Wifi Tether for Root Users, citing a clause in the Developer Distribution Agreement that allows apps in violation of the Authorized Carrier’s ToS to be removed.
The issue being that while AT&T and T-Mobile both prohibit tethering, the G1/Dream is sold in an unlocked state within the US, and by carriers outside the US who do not prohibit tethering – and among the casualties was an application that allows your G1 to connect to a Wi-Fi router and share that connection to a laptop over Bluetooth, which most certainly does not violate the ToS of any carrier.
Seth Lemons from False Dichotomies sums it up nicely:
Playing cop for cell carriers doesn’t really seem like the ideal way to establish credibility as a promoter of free software and a strong development community.
[False Dichotomies via Ars Technica]
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