I can just imagine some bored senator turning an app like this into an indictment of how Apple supports anti-Americanism and dodges taxes.
Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
141–150 of 229 posts
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? It was a great way to learn financial responsibility and start building a credit history. I have never gone a month without paying the balance off in full, so it seemed to serve me well. People jumping into credit late in life as an adult without any teachings on how to properly manage their financials is the greater problem here.
Why? Because one needs to be 18 to legally sign a contract. If you had a credit card before 18, that means you were added on your parents account as an authorized user and you were piggybacking off of their credit history. The greater problem here is that credit cards exist in the first place.
Credit cards are a short-term loan which doesn't require approval for every stupid minutiae. Ever signed a loan? Takes a bit of setup. Imagine doing that while paying for fast food. Pain in the ass. Take it for what it was meant to be: a loan system. Saying "credit cards exist is a problem" is like saying the concept of loaning money is bad, which I will handily point you to for-profit startups and non-profits that all either make or use loans to bring about positive change.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? Because one needs to be 18 to legally sign a contract. If you had a credit card before 18, that means you were added on your parents account as an authorized user and you were piggybacking off of their credit history. The greater problem here is that credit cards exist in the first place.
How is it a problem that credit cards exist? Credit cards are incredibly useful for two reasons, IMHO. 1. It's like having a proxy between your actual accounts and your purchasing. A stolen credit card is annoying and easy to rectify. A stolen debit card is terrifying. 2. Sometimes in life, an expense arises that exceeds both income and savings. When this happens, we either pay with credit (of some kind), we don't me…
+1 for stolen debit card. Aside from fraud liability agreements, in the absence of them, it creates an upper bound on the damage that can be dealt.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#144From the reddit comments -- I'm surprised nobody on Hacker News brought this up before reddit!
> Mobile app developer here... It was probably rejected because all it is is a web page wrapped in an app.
> > 2.12 Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected
> Which this app clearly is. It's not even using the mapkit API. It's just a link to a web page.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Blame the user straw man. I mean did you see how he was dressed, practically asking for it.
I'd rather live in a world where grownups are allowed to make their own choices than in one where daddy decides what's best for everyone.
Weird that I agree with all three parents at once (no pun intended).
Grownups can make their own life choices to some extent, but society everywhere forbids certain behaviours and activities.
An OS with a software distribution platform that tries to prevent the average user from making mistakes, and that attempts to prevent malicious activity while avoiding being overly restrictive seems a good model.
Not a bad shout for government as well.
App store == France, Marketplace == UK, Play == US?
Or something like that.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it does, they are saying that even an adult-only opt-in is flawed because thats the same as the child restrictions, it's often not set up. The last point is probably why a lot of parents buy iPhones for their children. As for the app in question, I find nothing objectionable about it, im sure the same information is available through Safari, but i suppose the same argument applies to adults wanting to see thi…
Opt-in is quite obviously not the same as opt-out (via restrictions) so it's dubious to compare the two. The parent poster was asking for a way to allow iOS users a way to voluntarily and explicitly enable content that may be deemed objectionable by some. It's not the same as restrictions, because the device is passively not going to allow those types of applications.
It is effectively the same. Unless the parent sets up parental controls (which they aren't going to do) there's nothing stopping the kid from opting in.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Blame the user straw man. I mean did you see how he was dressed, practically asking for it.
I'd rather live in a world where grownups are allowed to make their own choices than in one where daddy decides what's best for everyone.
As long as the full ramifications of said decisions are clear, sure, allow people to make their own. But it's not possible to know at a glance what Android app is malicious and which is not. Even an application that looks legitimate and works legitimately may steal your data behind the curtain without you knowing, which is what usually happens anyway. This is why an approval process for the app store is good. It's true that Apple's is a bit draconian, but that's because they care about protecting their users. I'm okay with this even if that protection borders on sheltering.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Blame the user straw man. I mean did you see how he was dressed, practically asking for it.
I'd rather live in a world where grownups are allowed to make their own choices than in one where daddy decides what's best for everyone.
I'd love to live in a world where winning arguments are met with seeing your enemies driven before you and the lamentation of the womenfolk instead of moving goalposts but here we are.
"grownups are allowed to make their own choices"
Apple didn't force anyone to buy an iphone. It's always been a curated app market. Grownups should take responsibility for their decisions. If you want a wild west app market you should not buy iOS products and that has always been the case.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#149Unlike most of the posters in this thread, I don't think Apple's rejection of the app is political. Most likely, they want to protect themselves against future legal liability, since there is a risk that the US government (specifically the Department of Defense, or Department of Homeland Security) will question the legality of drone tracking programs if they haven't already.
Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
BS argument through and through. 1st* You need an Apple ID with a credit card to use the App Store. Ergo, adult work. Ergo, parental controls can be integrated into the credit card screen by the simple checkbox "Is the user of this account an adult?" 2nd* Supreme Court Justice is given the authority by the state to decide on immense matters after years of honorable (which is their title, by the way) service. Nice att…
> You need an Apple ID with a credit card to use the App Store. Ergo, adult work. Ergo, parental controls can be integrated into the credit card screen by the simple checkbox "Is the user of this account an adult?" I'm pretty sure you don't, at least beyond the first-time setup of the account. My son has an iTunes account and we "fund" it through iTunes gift cards. There is no credit card attached at all. Once his gi…
You don't need a credit card to open an iTunes account. Select None for payment type when creating the account after switching country and purchasing a free app.
Then use gift cards from the target country, which can be purchased here and there.
http://lancewiggs.com/2010/04/13/how-to-have-a-us-itunes-acc...