Apple Bans Game App That Criticizes Smartphone Production

An anonymous reader sends word that Apple has removed from the App Store a game called Phone Story, which walks players through the creation of a smartphone, highlighting many of the negative aspects. There are four brief stages: running a mining facility in the Congo, saving suicidal factory workers, handing out phones to oblivious consumers, and generating e-waste through planned obsolescence. Apple said Phone Story violated sections 15.2, 16.1, 21.1, and 21.2 of the App Store guidelines, which make reference to "objectionable or crude content" and "offensive or mean-spirited commentary." A short video of the game has been posted at Kotaku.

Comments

Why am I so surprised :)

[youn]

apple has always been acting very nice to criticism so far, never threatening to sue commentaries it did not like... this is so out of character :)

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[Nasajin]

Clauses 15.2 and 16.1 (15.2 Apps that depict violence or abuse of children will be rejected, 16.1 Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected) are not being contested by Molleindustria, rather they are contesting points 21.1 and 21.2, which refer to in-app donation collection methods. The response from game studio is as follows:

We are currently considering two steps:

* Produce a new version of Phone Story that depicts the violence and abuse of children involved in the electronic manufacturing supply chain in a non-crude and non-objectionable way.

* Release a version for the Android market and jailbroken ios devices.

From the publisher's website. http://phonestory.org/banned.html

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[belg4mit]

He's suggesting such guidelines should not exist in the first place.

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[bky1701]

Oh, but the independent, trendy vanguard of the people that is Apple would never attempt to do anything bad! Why, whatever they do has to be good; for, simply their doing it makes it good!

Hark! I hear now many rushing to justify Apple, by quoting other worse companies, or such by ingenious logical methods as to perplex lesser men entirely. Surely, this is simply another reason that Apple is the great organization that it is!

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[Fluffeh]

Simple Rules in business:

Don't tell Big Tobacco that smoking kills.
Don't tell Big Fast Food that their food is unhealthy.
Don't tell Big Pharma that they peddle snake oil pills driven to consumers by fear they (Big Pharma) create.

Apparently we can now add:
Don't tell Big Communications that their industry has any sort of faults or makes a buck off the backs of kids in poor-shit-hole-third-world countries.

Also in the agreement: 16.1 Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected
When Apple says "Questionable" they don't mean "questionable to the general public" - they mean "questionable to an Apple executive".

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[jo_ham]

Who says it's a justification of Apple to point out that they get singled out in this sort of thing.

1) Person A is doing bad things!

2) Well, Person B does identical things, perhaps you should criticise them too.

1) You're just trying to justify Person A's actions!

2) Err? I guess you could try and twist it that way. Am I not allowed to mention Person B's infractions at all when talking about this? Does mentioning them somehow make it look like I'm trying to give Person A a pass?

1) Whatever fanboi!

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[mwvdlee]

In the Android market (person B) it would have just been accepted and the authors of this game wouldn't have anything to publicly complain about in the media.

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[jo_ham]

Well that's the point isn't it - despite doing the same things (apart from tighter control on the App Store, which is really the only difference), they're the same. Yet I've already seen it on this thread a few times: "this is what you get with Apple: censorship, third world slave labour and outsourcing!" in serious posts, as if every other mass market product in the world is made in the utopian ideal of well paid/well treated factory workers in local factories.

Point out the issues with globalisation and capitalism, but not from a starting position of hypocrisy ("This is why I have an Android phone").

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[danish94]

But you forget that android's marketplace is NOT the only legal way to buy and sell apps. even if google rejects the game, the developers can still just send a link to download the game (you know, like normal software) or publish it at amazon's appstore. If you are rejected by apple you're only way to share the game is to jailbroken devices. That's why ios is a walled garden, and android is not. (I am talking about the censorship part. slave labor and outsourcing is done by everyone)

Re:Why am I so surprised :)

[DrXym]

I expect Phone Story would be equally applicable regardless of the phone OS sitting on top. Even some Android / Windows Phone devices could be accused of planned obsolescence by aping Apple's sealed in batteries, not allowing memory expansions and so on.

The one thing that could be said of Android is that Phone Story would be available whether Google listed it on Marketplace or not - the devs could host the .apk on their own site and people could download it if they wished.

No win, really

[Jiro]

Allowing the application will reflect negatively on Apple just as much as censoring it (and not for reasons having to do with whether the criticism has substance). I can just imagine the headlines: "Apple is so dumb they will sell you the rope you can hang them with".

Re:No win, really

[bky1701]

Please tell me. Who would use that headline? "Man publishes app that makes Apple look bad," somehow lacks the editorial ring of "Apple censors app that makes them look bad."

Re:No win, really

[zwei2stein]

Just like you have cop-assisted suicide, you also have apple-assisted Streisand effect.

If you think about it, producing controversial app that you know since day 1 of development to not pass review process, is extemely cheap way to get your name on title pages.

I bet app authors would be royally pissed if it actually passed review process and appeared in app store.

Re:No win, really

[grouchomarxist]

Actually, it did pass the review process. It was available on the app store for a couple of hours before Apple pulled it. Whoever reviewed it probably wasn't playing close attention.

Re:No win, really

[Eudial]

If you censor criticism, you're not merely losing the moral high ground, you're also validating the criticism (after all, why would you censor something if it wasn't true?) as well as giving it publicity (see the Streisand effect.)

The correct thing to do is to face the criticism. If they are wrong, then you prove it (tour of the facilities maybe?). If they've unearthed something wrong, then you publicly apologize and fix that. Under no circumstances try to weasel out through semantic loopholes or by putting down straw men.

Apple/Scientology?

[therufus]

I've always jokingly called apple the "Cult of Macintology", but now it's even more obvious. The cult of $cientology sue people when they don't like what they're saying, Apple also take action (by the sole means they can) by killing off criticism.

Can anyone say Streisand effect?

Re:Apple/Scientology?

[ThatsNotPudding]

Can anyone say Streisand effect?

No; they are prevented to by threat of lawsuit.

Giggles

[Billly Gates]

Goes back on his Android.

Re:Giggles

[hedwards]

Indeed, this sort of crap is precisely why I didn't get an iPhone.

Granted, there are downsides, but all in all I'd rather have to look out for myself than have somebody tell me I can't have an app because it makes them look bad.

Re:Giggles

[wannabgeek]

No, because there is nobody who can stop me from installing any app I want on my phone. Did you really miss the point, or were you trying to act smart by diverting the topic?

It fun to poke at Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

The Developer of the App knew they were going to get ban, it was obvious. Its like the child wanting to get up the parent skin just for the fun of it. It's no fun doing in on Android because they don't have guidelines. This is basically just to get attention. In reality most users like Apple's App review system, it get rid of the obvious garbage.

Re:It fun to poke at Apple

[xstonedogx]

...it get rid of the obvious garbage.

I'm in tears, here.

Re:It fun to poke at Apple

[Osgeld]

lol yea sure it does

http://ifartmobile.com/

there is a mission critical app that does not in any way constitute garbage

Gosh, streisand effect much?

[SmallFurryCreature]

I don't have an iPhone as I am not a moral vacuum and so would never have heard of this app normally but now I have... good job Apple. See that they are not completely evil, they want to make sure everyone is properly informed of just what you stand for when you buy an iPhone. Censorship, outsourcing of all production work from the US and turning it into slave labor instead.

Samsung could at this point make Android phones with real kitten fur and still take the moral high ground... I didn't just give somebody an idea did I?

Alright all your Apple cultists, time for you to loudly protest that: vote with your dollars, doesn't apply when the shiny is shiny enough but we should boycot X Y and Z because they are not hip. Oh and claiming that it ain't censorship if it is a company doing it is also a good way to protest (and show that you have no spine).

Ready? GO!

Re:Gosh, streisand effect much?

[grouchomarxist]

Samsung also outsources some of its production. Some to China, some to India, some to other countries.

Is there a manufacturer left building phones or computers in the US? I don't know of one.

Is there a manufacturer left not doing some of its production in third-world countries?

Re:Gosh, streisand effect much?

[slim]

There's nothing wrong with doing production in the third world.

The greatest favour you could do those countries is to take your business there, treat your staff properly, do your manufacturing and raw materials sourcing in an ethical and environmentally responsible way.

That's how to improve conditions for the people in those countries.

What's wrong, is to outsource parts of your business to those parts of the world, and adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude to unethical practices.

FWIW I'd pay a £50 premium for an Android smartphone with some kind of assurance that the supply chain met some ethical standard or other (cf fairtrade coffee). I'm pretty sure they could achieve it for much less.

Android phone made of hemp by ...

[Anonymous Coward]

We are currently considering ...

* Release a version for the Android market and jailbroken ios devices.

Yeah, cause Android phones are made from hemp by fair trade workers.

This is all just a publicity stunt, seems to be working quite well. Congrats to the developer no one had ever heard of.

Re:Android phone made of hemp by ...

[Nasajin]

A publicity stunt? I guess so, although the developers are independently funded, all their games are free, and they've been around for a while. They essentially produce donationware, so it's not of financial benefit to the developers. Their site is here: http://www.molleindustria.org/en/home. I recognized Every day the same dream, McDonalds Videogame, and Oiligarchy.
A friend pointed out to me MIT Press published a book that discusses most of the games in a political context: Newsgames: Journalism at Play by Ian Bogost et al, 2010.

Censorship

[Mathinker]

It's propaganda, plain and simple.

And this wasn't also?

Face it, Apple deserves criticism when it messes up on its decided course to censor all executables for iOS. It is perfectly OK to criticize Apple for not having the balls to approve content which criticizes Apple --- and AFAIK this content wasn't even criticizing Apple directly (unlike the strawman examples you talk about), it was criticizing all smartphone production (and probably, by association, smartphone consumption).

If someone wants to worship censorship because it's Apple's censorship, he should at least be honest about it. In the case of the Apple App Store, Apple took the decision to censor all executables so that it could give a "walled garden" experience. I can understand how consumers benefit from having malware walled out; I can imagine some consumers enjoying the walling out of various content which offends them (e.g., naked breast images); but I find the submission of the executable in question here (be it classified as a game, an app, or propaganda) to be an interesting commentary on society --- it emphasizes the fact that consumers enjoy not having to deal with criticism of themselves (since they encouraged the production of the smartphone they use by buying it).

It fun to out verb

[BlueScreenO'Life]

It fun to out verb.

To, or not to. That the question.

Re:Fuck you apple

[Osgeld]

according to you fanbois yes, every time someone mentions a smartphone "you wouldnt have a smartphone without apple" but now its shed in a bad light "oh wait a min!"

Like those Bible apps...

[Slur]

VERY mean-spirited towards Evil. Whole cities destroyed. But perhaps this falls under the Parody Rule.

This is so reassuring...

[LaRainette]

So some eco-friendly hippies make an app that teaches people how smartphone pollute and Apple takes it back because it's offensive ?
I honnestly for the life of me still don't understand how anyone can have a good image of this company.
How do they get ANY support ? They are the douchiest mean f*cks and they have no ethics whatsoever.
When you get to the point where people saying your shit doesn't smell good enough to be put in their sink gets you mad, I think it's really time to see a psychiatrist. Hopefully Jobs departure will put an end to this decade of giant ego and utter douchery (but I wouldn't hold my breath)

and no anti-slashdot on slashdot

[decora]

i love it... an internet with no criticism, debate, or dissent.