Begging the question a bit here, so much so that I was tempted to just post '?'. I assume you mean Apple, but Apple's checks locally for code-signing, it doesn't phone home. Which is what the problem is.
I'm not specifically meaning Apple although they're certainly part of it:
- iTunes and App Store
- Steam
- Windows Phone marketplace, MSDN, upcoming software marketplace
- Amazon App Store and Google's Play Store
- Chrome Web Store and Firefox's add-on marketplace
- Ubuntu Software Center, packet managers in general
- Facebook's App Center
- Github, Google Code and SourceForge
I doubt there's anyone on HN who doesn't have a long history with a lot of names on that list. Almost every piece of software and game I have on every device I use has come via this list.
But I'm sure all of these .. centralized installation hubs I guess .. are reasonably vindicated by their privacy policies - where everyone's idea of 'reasonably' is different and most of them aren't like ours.
Centralized software distribution channel != phoning home every time any software is installed on a computer. You are citing examples of the first, the second is what the article is about.
