Walled garden (technology)

This article is about a technology term. For other uses, see Walled garden (disambiguation).

A walled garden is an analogy used in various senses in information technology. In the telecommunications and media industries, a "walled garden" refers to a carrier or service provider's control over applications, content, and media on platforms (such as mobile devices) and restriction of convenient access to non-approved applications or content. For example, in telecommunications, the services and applications accessible on any device on a given wireless network were historically tightly controlled by the mobile operators. The mobile operators determined which applications from which developers were available on a device's home portal or home page. This has long been a central issue constraining the telecommunications sector, as developers face huge hurdles in getting their applications onto devices and into the hands of end-users.

More generally, a "walled garden" refers to a closed or exclusive set of information services provided for users. This is in contrast to giving consumers unrestricted access to applications and content. Similar to a "real" walled garden, a user in a walled garden is unable to escape this area unless it is through the designated entry/exit points or the walled garden is removed. Removing the walled garden is typically done by complying with the terms of removal, such as updating firmware, registering an account, or cleaning machine from infected files.

Examples

Some examples of walled gardens:

• America Online. AOL started its business with revenue-sharing agreements with certain information providers in their subscriber-only space.
• Apple iOS and other devices restricted to running pre-approved applications from a digital distribution service.
• In late December 2011, Barnes and Noble began pushing the automatic, over-the-air firmware update 1.4.1 to Nook Tablets that removed users' ability to gain root access to the device and the ability to sideload apps from sources other than the official Barnes and Noble app store (without modding).
• Facebook's growth is aided by large amounts of content hidden behind login screens. Such content is said to be in a Walled Garden, inaccessible to general internet users.
• Full Service Network. A pilot project from Time Warner in the early 1990s, this was an early interactive television system that provided residents of Orlando, Florida, access to online shopping, grocery order and US Mail Service.
• Modern video game consoles typically are walled gardens, with developers needing to purchase licenses to develop for the platform, and in some cases needing editorial approval from the console manufacturer prior to publishing games.

Other uses

Walled gardens in wikis

As a related but different meaning, another type of walled garden can occur on internet articles or wiki websites. When this happens, it can be determined by information that has only a small amount of authors and rich interlinkage, but few links to and from its surrounding information network. (See Wikipedia: Walled garden.)

Malware isolation

Another use of the term refers to quarantining malware-infected computers which exhibit symptoms of botnet activity in such a way that the user can still access tools to disinfect the machine, usually with a Web browser.^{[citation needed]}

Access control

The term can also refer to a situation in which an unauthenticated user is given access to a limited environment for the purpose of setting up an account. After the account is established, the user is allowed out of the walled garden. Some walled gardens are created and maintained by the use of firmware upgrades that wall out alternatives (e.g., Apple Inc. iPhone hacks).

See also

• Closed community
• Defective by Design
• Dongle
• Walled garden
• Damaged goods (business strategy) and crippleware
• Hardware restrictions