You're partly right, formal methods don't catch problems that you assume does not happen in your assumptions (herein, the "operational semantics").
If this plan to formally verify internet algorithms included the Wi-Fi standard and implementations, the KRACK vulnerability wouldn't be an issue because it wouldn't verify (with respect to certain specifications, if they realized that those specifications were important to begin with).
But in the first place, most operational semantics on this level still stay at layers of abstraction high enough that they don't guard against Spectre and Meltdown.
Nevertheless, note that formal verification is also widely used at the microchip level.
Many of the apps in question are free apps... I tend to have Spotify and VS Code open most of the day. Then again, I replaced Mac on my home desktop with Linux, and getting rid of my rmbp in a few weeks.
There's no such thing as a "free" app from a for-profit company -- except some neglected side project.
Spotify is only free because they want to hook people and then sell premium subscriptions to those that are up for it, others are monetized by ads, private info (eyeballs), etc.
"Free" means the app isn't charged for, not revenue generating directly... so jumping through hoops to satisfy Apples whims is not productive. Context matters, and I'm pretty sure you understood the context.
As far as I can tell the only logical reason is political. It would be far less popular to force news organizations, which might be influential and local, to delete data than forcing an unpopular foreign corporation to do it.
I think people here in Raleigh would hardly notice if Google Fiber pulled out. They only ever offered it in a very small area and AT&T has been offering gigabit to to large parts of the area for several years now.
Yeah, in Durham, I've seen a lot of AT&T guys running fiber... I've only gotten a Google T-Shirt and seen an apparently empty office space downtown with a Google Fiber sign in the window.
Unless they changed it very recently you can still sign up completely online or have them mail you a PIN. They do still mail you a PIN no matter what so you can at least deactivate it if you didn't set it up.