

Poll: Should Apple accept an app that tracks drone kills? - sirteno
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/09/03/poll-should-apple-accept-an-app-that-tracks-drone-kills/

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lutusp
It's not about this specific application -- it's about the proverbial slippery
slope. If an app that tracks drone strikes, based on publicly available
information, can be excluded, where do we draw the line? And more to the
point, where do _they_ (i.e. Apple) draw the line, and what qualifies them to
be drawing it?

Just to test the waters, I'd like to see an app that automatically locates the
nearest abortion clinic. Also an app that automatically locates the nearest
gun store. But these apps should be submitted by different people, at
different times, just to see how differently they're treated.

But I should be happy about this brouhaha -- in the final analysis, incidents
like this can only increase Android's market share, because no single company
can exclude an application from Android, as Apple rather arbitrarily does with
apps designed for their platform.

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digitalWestie
As shocked as I am at this, I'm shocked at the response to the poll!

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lignuist
Why are you shocked? I'm shocked (maybe disgusted is the better word, as I was
expecting it) at the fact that Apple bans Apps that simply transport
Information, just because the information is not pleasant enough.

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digitalWestie
I believe there's a right to know about these goings on. Those drones are
being used as part of operations funded by taxpayers.

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paul9290
Personally these drones are just scary all around as once one country uses
this tech others will follow.

What's going to stop a more advanced drone from attacking other nations other
then how the US uses them now?

Iran purportedly got their hands on one these drones...

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JohnTHaller
It's a censored walled garden where nary a controversial idea should be
shared. Apple bans all kinds of things from its playground, always has, always
will. Let Apple and its users reap what they sow.

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jsz0
It's Apple's store I think they can decide to sell whatever they want and the
consumer can decide to goto a different store (platform) if Apple isn't
meeting their needs.

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antihero
What about ethical responsibility?

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spullara
I think the reason they rejected it is that there is no utility to it. Just
open the webpage. They very often reject applications that duplicate web
functionality.

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antihero
It has push notifications.

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ollysb
To be fair email would do the job...

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gauravk92
To be fair maybe people don't want to give out their email to everyone.

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pooriaazimi
I've never, ever hesitated in giving out my email address to _anyone_ (that
includes sites that I _know_ are scammers and would sell my email address to
anyone practically for the asking). In the past ??? years (since GMail was in
beta), I've received less than 5 spams.

(I know it's a little irrelevant to your point though, but wanted to say at
least with gmail you don't need to fear giving you email address out)

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digitalWestie
Also, what about a normal news app? They report unpleasant goings on in the
world like drone killings.

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krickle
They probably should!

Counter-poll: should news organizations return to reporting actual news?

