

How Apple's Moral Compass Works - VoxelBoy
http://www.fastcompany.com/1750514/smuggle-truck-and-5-other-banned-iphone-apps

======
r00fus
Apple's moral compass is pretty much dictated by image, especially amongst the
userbase of it's products.

As far as I can surmise, an app would be banned if:

* it would offend a large potential group of customers

* it offends even a moderate but vocal set of existing customers

* it spews and/or supports the spewing of FUD

* it makes the iPhone or Apple look bad

All in all, these are pretty easy to guess guidelines. They're also very
geared towards keeping and attracting customers, and thus, the bottom line.

~~~
trythis3
Alternatively, the company is run by a comparatively moralistic CEO. Apple and
Steve Jobs are not as superficial as their many detractors accuse them of
being. In fact, they're among the least superficial entities in the business.

~~~
TomOfTTB
Would this be the same CEO that would fire people if they couldn't justify
their job in an elevator ride? Or the Steve Jobs who denied his daughter's
existence until it was painfully clear she was his (going so far as to force
her mother onto welfare because he refused to support her)? Or are you talking
about the Steve Jobs who paid lip service to improving conditions at Foxconn
while not forcing them to improve anything (I think there's been 3 suicides so
far this year)?

I own Apple products, I love my Apple products, I love Steve Jobs' talent for
creating them. But let's hold off on beautifying the man shall we?

~~~
thaumaturgy
It's kind of a bummer that you included the Foxconn example, considering that
there have been several articles pointing out that Foxconn is _huge_ and,
statistically speaking, they have a _lower_ suicide rate than the national
average. In other words, working at Foxconn makes you less likely to commit
suicide!

That example kind of casts doubt on the others, which I hadn't heard of before
(but wouldn't be surprised by, either).

~~~
TomOfTTB
On the other claims are you capable of using Google? If you had the time to
post this you should have the time to verify the data for your own piece of
mind.

As far as Foxconn the company is huge but 30 suicide attempts in 3 weeks is
not normal ([http://gizmodo.com/#!5540045/foxconn-suicide-cluster-
claims-...](http://gizmodo.com/#!5540045/foxconn-suicide-cluster-claims-
another-victim)). China only has a .02% suicide rate and most are in the rural
areas
([http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/11/content_609571...](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/11/content_6095710.htm)).
That's 1 (Edit: I meant 1,000 here) in every 5 million people killing
themselves. Foxconn has 950,000 employees
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn>) and 30 suicide attempts in 3 weeks!

~~~
seabee
Your facts don't support your assertions.

Population of China (2007): 1,321,851,888
(<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html>)

Suicide rate determined in 2007: "more than 287,000 people end their own lives
every year"
([http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/11/content_609571...](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/11/content_6095710.htm))

Suicide rate per 100,000 per year: 21.7

Statistically expected suicides at Foxconn per year: 206

Actual suicides in 2010: 14 ([http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-news-
watch/article/Struggl...](http://topics.scmp.com/news/china-news-
watch/article/Struggle-for-Foxconn-girl-who-wanted-to-die)) with at least 30
attempts
([http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100039883/wha...](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/100039883/what-
has-triggered-the-suicide-cluster-at-foxconn/)) (the articles contradict
themselves in the number of attempts)

You are assuming the suicide cluster is a continuing trend rather than a
short-term incident. Statistics does not work that way, things are not neat
and orderly and you can't extrapolate like that. Besides, suicide clusters are
a known phenomenon (<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7205141.stm>).

Also bear in mind that other sources place China's suicide rate much lower by
a factor of as much as 4 (but Foxconn's suicide rate would still be lower than
the average).

Is it something to be concerned about? Of course. But it's not at the dark-
forces-at-work stage. All you are witnessing is how sausages (or cheap
Chinese-manufactured goods) are made; witnessing it is uncomfortable but how
often does it turn someone vegetarian?

~~~
Retric
That's a reasonable first approximation.

However, I would add that attempts are a poor indicator because there is a
wide range of methods with poor success rates. EX: An increasing in attempts
can relate to people choosing low success rate methods and failing.

Also younger people are far more likely to commit suicide than the elderly or
vary young. However, generally employed people tend to have lower suicide
rates. There is also a significant gender bias in suicide attempts and
different bias in rates of suicide. Men are more likely to die on their first
attempt in large part due to their chosen methods etc.

Also, suicides rates tend to cluster more than expected, both in the short and
long term.

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mason55
There is really nothing insightful in this article. It's a list of a few
banned apps and them throwing up their hands saying "who knows!?"

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trythis3
They view the App Store as, well, a store. Just like virtually any other
store, online or off, they restrict what they choose to sell. Ordinarily this
isn't controversial, but for the fact that in Apple's case, the App Store is
the only way to get native apps.

This sentence

> Apple has complete control over the kind of information you can get on your
> phone, and it exercises that right seemingly capriciously.

is just blatantly wrong, of course. It only has (near) complete control over
the native apps you can get on your phone. There are several other obvious
channels of information that it does not control.

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palish
Since HN doesn't have a private messaging system...

VoxelBoy, I noticed your username. I'm a graphics programmer --- I'd love to
read about the type of stuff you've done, or simply chat. Have you looked into
Sparse Voxel Octrees? Toss me an email (it's in my profile).

~~~
VoxelBoy
Sure, I will. I'm currently doing game development with Unity and I haven't
dabbled in self-contained graphics research. I would hazard that you know more
about me when it comes to voxel data and rendering; regardless, it's a topic
I'm very interested in. Aside: Voxatron by Lexaloffle is doing some cool
things with voxels, check it out sometime.

~~~
andrewflnr
Do you know about the OSS game ForeverWar?
<http://foreverwar.sourceforge.net/> It's not developed anymore, but even the
demo is pretty fun, and it would be cool if you picked it up. Just an idea. :)
Voxatron looks cool too.

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michaelpinto
I the iPad as a videogame platform — that means their peers are really
Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft with the Xbox. But unlike the later two Apple is
really going for the home market, i.e. marketing to a family (just like
Disney).

With that in mind Apple is really closer to being Nintendo than anything else
— so if you think in those terms they're in fact very open with what they
allow into their store. Also I've never known Apple to tout the idea that
"we're open" or even that "we do no evil". So I think in that way they're a
bit more honest.

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aj700
The metric seems simple. It's not just Apple that's affected by the way the
media find it ver easy to whip up a storm / moral panic / or as the article
says "riots"...

If the decision to allow something will get us on Fox News, don't do it.

The media and political class are only allowed two positions on anything.
Completely against or completely encouraging. Drugs. Infanticide etc. If you
fail to condemn or block it, you're encouraging it. If you fail to encourage
it, you're blocking it. Of course, when you spend less than any other
industrialised country on education, you get a populous for whom everything is
black and white.

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edderly
Why Apple doesn't use some kind of MPAA style rating system?

That isn't without it's politics, but at least it gives a flavor how to deal
with publication of different categories of material.

~~~
zalew
not a good example. MPAA is evil, their rating system is subjective and their
commitee members' bios are in condradiction to their own rules.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPQmKTAAeik&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPQmKTAAeik&feature=related)

~~~
SoftwareMaven
So you are saying Apple does use something like the MPAA ratings...

* Posted from my iPad...

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GHFigs
tl;dr: professional-grade trolling

~~~
jrockway
tl;dr: not everything critical of Apple is trolling.

~~~
GHFigs
I didn't say it was. But are you going to defend shit like this?

"And ultimately, Apple just wants people to keep calling, even if tumors are
growing in their heads."

