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Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

theverge.com

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Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#21

Post by Amezarak »

nsxwolf wrote: post #14
codedokode wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a free market the consumer always has a choice between companies doing censorship and companies doing censorship.

How many times are we going to re-litigate this? Until there’s a law requiring side loading options, you have the web. Everyone here was totally fine with the “gay cure” apps being pulled.

Most people also seemed to celebrate Parler and Gab being pulled/denied. It was perfectly obvious that the same logic could be used to do things like this, but many people seem to be totally surprised or oblivious.

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#22

Post by Hizonner »

nsxwolf wrote: post #6
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

Is it illegal for Americans to track their authorities or are the corporations all doing this quite voluntarily?

It’s perfectly legal, but also perfectly legal for a corporation to choose not to sell or distribute a particular software application.

It is not legal for the government to induce a corporation to do that with threats of unrelated, bogus litigation, enforcement fishing expeditions, interference with the legally required government contracting process, or the like. Since the Trump administration has a consistent, well-established pattern of doing all those things, we can all assume that's what's going on.

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#24

Post by davidw »

Waterluvian wrote: post #4

Is it illegal for Americans to track their authorities or are the corporations all doing this quite voluntarily?

It's the equivalent of posting on social media that you just saw some ice agents at such and such an address. Completely protected speech... At least it is unless the Roberts court shadow dockets it.

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#25

Post by ath3nd »

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power"

Is a quote often wrongly attributed to Mr. Fascism Benito Mussolini himself, but whoever said it had made a damn good point. Be aware that what you are seeing now fits the exact and precise definition of fascism.

It's amusing seeing the US descend so quickly in pure unadulterated fascism and the amount of denial and attempts to sugar coat it or window dress in places like HN. Then forums like this will go dark, and next thing you know, the brownshirts from the modern Gestapo/Stasi/ICE would be knocking on your door.

Make no mistake about Google and Apple: moderating anti fascist apps or content is abetting fascism (that applies to HN mods as well).

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#26

Post by Wowfunhappy »

From: https://onefoottsunami.com/2025/10/03/iceblock-blocked/

> Gosh, it’s almost like Apple serving as the exclusive gatekeeper for what software can be installed on the iPhone (and iPad, and Apple TV, and Apple Watch, and Vision Pro) is a bad thing that creates a single point of failure which can be abused by increasingly authoritarian governments.

Apple should not be able to decide which apps their customers are allowed to use. It's one thing to make decisions about which products are allowed in your store, and quite another to unilaterally ban software from what is many people's primary computer.

There should have always been a side-loading switch. It doesn't have to be easy to find, it just needs to be available in the event of an emergency. Any possible security arguments to the contrary pale in comparison to the importance of maintaining a free society.

We live in a digital age, and software is a form of free expression. We would not (I hope) find this situation acceptable for eBooks, and we should not find it acceptable for software.

I am horrified that Google has decided to move in the same direction on Android, and I urge them to reconsider before it's too late. Right now, these apps can still be sideloaded on Android phones, so to be honest I don't care that much what Google does with the Play Store. But what happens next year?

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#27

Post by chvid »

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #15
antfarm wrote: post #2

I already lost all remaining respect for Tim Cook when he kissed the ring in the oval office. I wonder how Steve Jobs would have handled the current political challenges.

He'd probably be up to his eyeballs in magic crystals and antivax nonsense by now

Lol - exactly - why do people expect the politics or broader principles of Steve Jobs to be any good?

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#28

Post by watwut »

argsnd wrote: post #10
antfarm wrote: post #2

I already lost all remaining respect for Tim Cook when he kissed the ring in the oval office. I wonder how Steve Jobs would have handled the current political challenges.

Americans elected a mob boss to their highest office and he also appointed many of the judges in the legal system. As a corporation your choices are to give in or to get crushed.

Nah. They are the most powerful members of a society. It is ridiculous how they get treated with less expectations then anyone else.

They have choices and they are consciously choosing this.

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#29

Post by ants_everywhere »

kread wrote: post #12

Happened in 2019 in Hongkong: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/10/20907596/apple-hong-kong... In 2025 in USA?

I've wondered for a while if the experience with protesters organizing on apps was what made China prioritize TikTok more.

TikTok's initial rise predates the protests by about a year. But it explodes and overtakes other social media apps starting in 2019 and into 202.

Re: Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple's ICEBlock crackdown

#30

Post by Waterluvian »

codedokode wrote: post #9
nsxwolf wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s perfectly legal, but also perfectly legal for a corporation to choose not to sell or distribute a particular software application.

In a free market the consumer always has a choice between companies doing censorship and companies doing censorship.

Not sure you intended the double positive but I think it’s funny and apt.
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