Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 229 posts

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#181

Post by fpgeek »

philwelch wrote: post #100
stephengillie wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Google decides to only allow installs from their market, someone will just fork android and change that.

And how will that fork get on any phones for customers to use? "People can just sideload the OS" is not a feasible answer here.

People will just buy different Android phones from someone else.

We've already been through this. AT&T (uniquely among US carriers, I believe) blocked non-Market applications on all of their devices. The success of the Amazon Appstore forced them to change that policy.

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#182

Post by fpgeek »

nivla wrote: post #175
orangecat wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a combination of FUD and objective falsehood. You presented no evidence that Google intends to close off Android source, and Android doesn't force users to create or use a Google account.

> You presented no evidence that Google intends to close off Android source. You are right, but the statement was meant to be more of a what-if situation and not a it is. Either-ways we all can agree that based on the past events that it is not in Google's priority list to keep the open-source community updated: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/googles-decision-to-de... http://www.itworld.com/open-source/164153/…

Every Android device I've ever set up (all the way back to the G1) has a skip button on that same screen. You're free to hit that and never associate a Google account with that device (and get your apps from Amazon, etc.).

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#183

Post by fpgeek »

Steko wrote: post #148
cageface wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Apple didn't force anyone to buy an iphone.

After Apple has sued the top three Android OEMs in the US (Samsung, HTC and Motorola) and more competitors overseas that statement rings more than a little hollow.

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#184

Post by fpgeek »

eridius wrote: post #146
xorbyte wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're making unfounded conclusions about a hypothetical feature Apple hasn't implemented.

I can think of at least one way to make it difficult for a kid to opt-in (I'm sure there are others): require the opt-in to be done online and require re-authorizing the credit card associated with the iTunes account. If it's good enough to get an email account out of a COPPA jail, it's good enough here.

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#185

Post by cageface »

eevilspock wrote: post #177
cageface wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's exactly the problem with the benevolent dictatorship model. Sooner or later this kind of absolute power is used unwisely or outright abused and you have no recourse. This is why almost every country in the world has abandoned monarchy. It's ultimately too error-prone and inefficient.

What you seem to propose as an alternative to monarchy is not democracy, but anarchy. No rules sounds great in principle... Even Linux has King Linus. And Android has King Page, Queen Rubin and a host of Lords (Verizon, AT&T, Samsung, etc). Don't kid yourself. Furthermore, we're talking about a product, a phone , not national governments or the sovereignty of citizens over them. Poor strawman.

With an Android phone I can limit myself to what's available on Google Play or I can patronize any of the third-party app markets or I can manually side-load any app I want. If I don't like a particular vendor's form factor or UI customizations I have many alternatives. Those of us unafraid of a little variety call this choice, not anarchy.

And in a world where a lot of people access the internet only through a phone these decisions carry a lot more weight than your choice of shoes or your car.

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#186

Post by fpgeek »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #138
delinka wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...parental controls don't work unless the parents set them up (many don't)." This is still the problem. You don't know whether the kid or the parent opened the box and set the phone up the first time.

So set it to "child-safe" mode by default, and require a credit card or other age-verification mechanism to unlock it. I really don't understand what problem Apple is trying to solve.

Cynically, I'd say Apple is (successfully, judging by the commentary here) solving the problem of finding reasonable-sounding justifications of their app store approval process (and the inevitable arbitrary decisions that come with it).

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#188

Post by fpgeek »

eevilspock wrote: post #177
cageface wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's exactly the problem with the benevolent dictatorship model. Sooner or later this kind of absolute power is used unwisely or outright abused and you have no recourse. This is why almost every country in the world has abandoned monarchy. It's ultimately too error-prone and inefficient.

What you seem to propose as an alternative to monarchy is not democracy, but anarchy. No rules sounds great in principle... Even Linux has King Linus. And Android has King Page, Queen Rubin and a host of Lords (Verizon, AT&T, Samsung, etc). Don't kid yourself. Furthermore, we're talking about a product, a phone , not national governments or the sovereignty of citizens over them. Poor strawman.

> Even Linux has King Linus.

Once upon a time (a few years ago), King Linus and his nobles weren't terribly happy with many of the technical decisions the Android team made. How did King Linus exercise his sovereignty? Did it stop the Android team from doing what they wanted?

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#189

Post by JohnnyBrown »

Apple is literally preventing lifesaving technology from being deployed into the world. Due to this politically-motivated decision, actual real live human beings are being denied a simple tool that could allow them to literally avoid death.

If we aren't civilized enough to distinguish between combatants and foreigners (is has been clearly shown that we are not), we could at least have the decency to give the spectators to our fireworks shows a warning.

Re: Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes

#190

Post by pooriaazimi »

ktizo wrote: post #56
lukeschlather wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not the first time that Apple has rejected an app on purely political grounds. This may be the first time they've removed something and offended liberal/libertarian sensibilities, but a couple clear examples from a while back: http://mashable.com/2011/03/23/apple-removes-gay-cure/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/24/apple-manhattan-dec...

Or rejecting apps by pulitzer prize winning political cartoonists for "Ridiculing Public Figures" - http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/15/when-youre-good-enough-for-a-...

Jobs responded to that case at D8 conference. He said it was a mistake ("We had a rule: you can't defame people. We thought it was sane to have such a rule, but the problem is that political cartoons, by definition, defame politicians. So, we made an exception for political cartoons") and they soon changed their guidelines to let the app in, but the developer never bothered to re-submit the app.
Post reply on HN