Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
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Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#2You can choose between censorship and freedom of speech. You can't have it both ways.
Offensive speech is the small price you pay for your freedom. Enjoy it.
And, BTW, I live in a country where I am not given the luxury of being able to express some impopular points of view without risking being arrested.
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#3You can choose between censorship and freedom of speech. You can't have it both ways. Offensive speech is the small price you pay for your freedom. Enjoy it. And, BTW, I live in a country where I am not given the luxury of being able to express some impopular points of view without risking being arrested.
Where are you from? As far as I know this particular theme would probably be illegal in Germany.
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#4The difference between the App Store and the Android Market is that the latter is not as actively policed. The Android Market has a fairly restrictive content policy, which (among other things) prohibits "promotions of hate or incitement of violence". While it's easier to slip prohibited content into the Android Market, it's not supposed to be there and will likely be removed.
http://www.android.com/us/developer-content-policy.html
The freedom of the Android platform is that you can put what you want on your device. The same freedom does not apply to the Market -- if you want Market-prohibited content, you need to find another way to get it. This renders most of the article moot.
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#5You can choose between censorship and freedom of speech. You can't have it both ways. Offensive speech is the small price you pay for your freedom. Enjoy it. And, BTW, I live in a country where I am not given the luxury of being able to express some impopular points of view without risking being arrested.
Where are you from? As far as I know this particular theme would probably be illegal in Germany.
Yes it would be illegal in Germany, but here in the US we do have freedom of speech. From flag burning, to KKK rallys and in this case Nazi insignia are all examples of free speech, and protected by the Constitution.
Google can censor this but that would also be sacrificing free speech.
I think its a disgusting theme but I don't think it should be censored, maybe they should get their keywords sorted so it doesn't show up when looking up "Jewish".
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#6This link is from when a similar thing showed up in the main Google search results:
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#7You can choose between censorship and freedom of speech. You can't have it both ways. Offensive speech is the small price you pay for your freedom. Enjoy it. And, BTW, I live in a country where I am not given the luxury of being able to express some impopular points of view without risking being arrested.
What’s Google’s decision whether to sell crap like this got to do with freedom of speech?
It’s not that hard: The police arresting the asshole developers of those themes? That’s an attack on freedom of speech [+]. Google not allowing them to sell their stuff through the Android Market? Not so much. (I very much expect that Google will remove the themes. It’s no big deal.)
I think it’s ludicrous to even bring up freedom of speech in this context. You can install whatever you want on your Android phone. The developers can sell this theme on their own website and there is an officially supported way of installing third party stuff like this — it’s not like they have a right to be in the Android Market.
I really don’t know why Engadget puts this stupid spin on the story. Google might not be as prude or wimpy as Apple when it comes to curating their Market but I’m mystified why people would believe that Google won’t curate their Market at all. Android is freer than the iPhone because the Android Market is not the only way to install Apps, not because of the Android Market.
[+] Little excursion on constitutional freedoms: Their main purpose is to protect you from the state, not other citizens or groups of citizens (like companies).
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#8Even if you accept that it should be illegal to publish certain things, it doesn't follow that everything has to be piped through a censorship authority. Punishing offenders should be enough.
Otherwise, where to stop? It is illegal to kill somebody, therefore we need a watchdog to approve our every moves, in case it is a killing move?
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where are you from? As far as I know this particular theme would probably be illegal in Germany.
Yes it would be illegal in Germany, but here in the US we do have freedom of speech. From flag burning, to KKK rallys and in this case Nazi insignia are all examples of free speech, and protected by the Constitution. Google can censor this but that would also be sacrificing free speech. I think its a disgusting theme but I don't think it should be censored, maybe they should get their keywords sorted so it doesn't sh…
Which would also be censorship.
Even if Google remove it from their marketplace people could still install it directly. So Google can make the choice not to allow bigotry "in their house" without preventing others from having free speech. Which seems like a reasonable compromise to me.
Re: Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where are you from? As far as I know this particular theme would probably be illegal in Germany.
Yes it would be illegal in Germany, but here in the US we do have freedom of speech. From flag burning, to KKK rallys and in this case Nazi insignia are all examples of free speech, and protected by the Constitution. Google can censor this but that would also be sacrificing free speech. I think its a disgusting theme but I don't think it should be censored, maybe they should get their keywords sorted so it doesn't sh…
"Yes it would be illegal in Germany, but here in the US we do have freedom of speech. From flag burning, to KKK rallys and in this case Nazi insignia are all examples of free speech, and protected by the Constitution."
The 1st amendment is about Congress, not about what retailers allow into their stores for sale.