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Google Asks Android Developers To Show Sensitivity To Disasters and Atrocity
Mark Wilson writes: Today Google revealed an updated version of its Google Play Developer Program Policies. There aren't actually all that many changes or additions, but those that are present are quite interesting. Google is clamping down on the problem of impersonation, making it clearer that it is not permissible to mislead users by imitating other apps, making false claims, or suggesting endorsements that do not exist. One of the more intriguing changes to the document sees Google calling on developers to show sensitivity to evens such as natural disasters, war, and death. Any apps or other content that attempt to benefit by exploiting such events are explicitly banned.
maybe i'm behind the news curve but...
is it still the case that a lonely developer can release an app he or she slaved over lovingly for months, only to see it ripped off and released by someone else who games the ranking system and reaps all the profits?
that seems to be the real threat to their app ecosystem
https://play.google.com/about/...
doesn't seem strong enough to me
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
That's why this is going to be a tough sell. Android developers are used to disasters and atrocity, having developed android applications.
Honestly, Google, what was the Android team smoking? When working on a Blackberry port feels like a breath of fresh air, you know you've made some serious mistakes.
Required reading for internet skeptics
Translation: Don't be an asshole
Why do Millennials tend to be such sissies? Why do they care so much about "hurt feelings" and "safe spaces" and all sorts of wimpy stuff like that?
Why do we have a whole generation of people who can't put up with even the smallest bit of criticism, and who can't tolerate anything that's even slightly negative?
Why do these Millennials so badly crave to suppress anything and oppress everyone who they have labelled as "offensive"?
Why do we have millions upon millions of 20- and 30-year-olds, who should be well into adulthood, acting like toddlers?
Is it because they're a product of the Baby Boomers, who have typically fucked up each and every thing they've tried to do?
If you write a game that involves knocking down houses in Nepal that survived the recent earthquake, you're an asshole. Don't expect it to last long before being removed.
If you write a game called "Kill the Gays", you're an asshole. Don't expected it to last either.
If you write a game called "Kill the Gays", you're an asshole. Don't expected it to last either.
My game titled "Arab homosexuals trying to save themselves from murderous Muslims killing them in Syria and Iraq in 2015 Anno Domini" is o.k.?
" [...] * Hate Speech: We don't allow content advocating against groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity. * Sensitive Events: We don't allow content which may be deemed as capitalizing on or lacking reasonable sensitivity towards a natural disaster, atrocity, conflict, death, or other tragic event. [...]"!
Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
And in a surprise related development, Google has now banned Google.
Are you kidding? You aren't forced to have anything to do with Google. It is their company, they can restrict whatever they want.
Do mobile app developers get to chose where their customers come from? Between the Apple store and Google you can say it is all free will and App store vendors can do what they want with their own software and infrastructure yet they have effectively become gatekeepers of execution and if they don't like what your doing you can expect an audience of crickets.
All I will say is enjoy your kings and monopolies people. If your not willing to defend the right of assholes to be themselves without censorship then don't be surprised when one day you too get fucked over by the same system.
Taking down games or apps which are clearly intended to be hateful, I'm not sure I even have an example probably because I've never gone looking for them... a confederate flag app that drops the n-bomb when you rub the stars the right way? dunno what an example would be. But OK, I can see that.
Sticks and stones. Freedom isn't about agreeing with nice people.
Sticks and stones. Freedom isn't about agreeing with nice people.
Right, it's about being able to do business with who you choose, and not who you don't. Oh wait, is that a different narrative? Silly me. I think Google has an absolute right to kick whatever they want off their app store. I think they're stupid dicks if they kick stuff off on the basis that its success is predicated upon the suffering of others, because down that road lies... nothing. But they're a public company subjected to massive scrutiny everywhere in the world, so I understand that they have some unfortunate choices to make.
Like I said before, something designed just to be offensive, I see why they don't want to be involved with it. They're not preventing you from sideloading it, like Apple is; most Android phones have a vendor-approved way to enable sideloading. To me, that makes it OK to kick stuff off your store because you don't want to deal with it, even if it's douchebag-OK.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You are not *wrong*, Billy. You're just an asshole.
Barney the Dinosaur fucked it up for a whole generation. Thank god he's dead so the cancer doesn't spread.
Ever see a bunch of cops grabbing guns and ammunition and hurrying to their cars? I have. It wasn't a riot or other incident. It was the day when it was announced that the shooting range just received purple Barney silhouette targets. All of a sudden everyone seemed to need some time on the practice range. Ever see grown men singing a Barney song in unison while firing their weapons. I have, its unforgettable. Guys had to put their gun down and step back from the firing line to take a laugh break. Sadly it was before cellphones with cameras.
Well, its the hippies, not necessarily baby boomers in general.
Conservative porn, is that porn with Sarah palin as actor?