Apple Sets New Mark for Hypocrisy and Censorship in App Store
9:22 am, August 5th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
Just one day after earning congratulations for pulling the developer’s license of a prolific producer of useless (and possibly copyright-infringing) applications, propriety demands Apple receive a major Bronx cheer for the way the company treated Matchstick software and their Ninjawords iPhone Dictionary application.
The degree of censorship and hassle Apple forced Matchstick developers to endure in order to get their nifty $2 app listed on the App Store, as reported Tuesday at Daring Fireball, is simply unconscionable.
In recent weeks, Cult of Mac has reported a number of stories showing many holes in the tattered shroud of respectability with which Apple attempts to proclaim the innocence and purity of all things that might ever appear on the iPhone. The tale behind Ninjawords’ (iTunes link) tribulations would seem to set Apple’s high-water mark for institutional hypocrisy to date.
As Daring Fireball author John Gruber put it so well: Apple requires you to be 17 years or older to purchase a censored dictionary that omits half the words Steve Jobs uses every day.
For Shame.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, News, Software, iPhone | Comment on this article
Personally, I am tired of seeing the thinly veiled porn apps while literature and art apps are pulled or censored for their potential content. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Though I am beginning to wonder if Apple has any. They seem to be using these apps as “examples” while letting the ones that will earn them a greater share through.
ecu9697, on August 5th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I’m in no way a fan of the way Apple has been doing these things, but dang it, it’s *their* sandbox and they get to make the rules. I can’t imagine that these developers haven’t signed agreements that pretty much spell it out for them. “We’ll pull your app at any time for any reason we see fit” or words similar.
If the developers want to be a part of their system it’s what they agree to.
Is it fair? No. Is it legal? Yep.
Freedonia, on August 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I think they should remove the Dictionary app from Mac OS X distributions as it also can be used to look up objectionable words. The iPhone Tom Tom app should be rejected because it could be used to get directions to adult businesses.
Gary, on August 5th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
In the end, I see all these inconsistencies as different employees defining “inappropriate” differently. While Apple should have better definitions of what is and isn’t allowed, I really think that somehow the “porn” apps are making it to one employee with loose definitions and the art/literature apps are making it to another.
KB, on August 5th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
censorship – this word doesn’t mean what you think it means
anon@work, on August 6th, 2009 at 8:32 am
@anon: given your work domain, i’m inclined to presume you are a scientist, but you seem to feel quite authoritative with respect to linguistics. either way, i thank you for being a close reader.
Lonnie Lazar, on August 6th, 2009 at 10:43 am