Bonum Certa Men Certa

Apple Censorship Shows Importance of Software Freedom

Richard Stallman has already criticised Apple for it in his political blog

Richard Stallman



Summary: Apple denies third party's distribution of an app with politically divisive content

As part of my political leanings, outside of Techrights I actively oppose the use of drones to assassinate individuals imprecisely, usually killing more innocent civilians than CIA targets. Watch what Apple is doing to those who entertain the subject:



There are other apps about drones [1, 2, 3] which get a free pass, for instance:

Dronestagram is the latest project from renowned "new aesthetic" pioneer James Bridle, an Instagram feed which posts satellite images corresponding to US drone strikes in the Middle-East and Asia. Much like Josh Begley's Drones+, the Apple-banned smartphone app which sends alerts whenever drone strikes are reported, Bridle says Dronestagram is a way of "making these locations just a little bit more visible, a little closer. A little more real."


In the eyes of Apple, drones are okay, provided they are not criticised. Apple is making a political stance even by denying politicised apps. This is censorship -- something which Free software strives to tackle.

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