Apple Censors Ulysses App In Time For Bloomsday 333
Miracle Jones writes "Apple has censored a 'Ulysses' comic book app — just in time for 'Bloomsday' — because of a picture of Buck Mulligan's stately, plump cartoon penis. Not since Amazon removed digital copies of '1984' from people's Kindles while they slept has there been such a hilarious episode in the ongoing slapstick farce 'Let's See What Happens When Corporations Become Publishers.'"
Android (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why I bought an android. Every time I see a story like this it just makes me feel better about my choice
so honestly... (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, whats next, an article alleging that Google may, in fact, have ties to the advertising industry?
corporations have always been publishers (Score:5, Insightful)
And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is different to Walmart deciding not to carry content its store owners find objectionable, how?
Apple can say "no penises on the store, even comic ones" just like network TV can say "no swearing before 9pm" or a store can say "we'll carry all of your products except that flavoured lube you make, it just doesn't fit with our image".
Also, I thought most publishers *were* corporations. When did it become ok to post troll articles as summaries? Oh wait, it's slashdot. Carry on.
Publishers (Score:5, Insightful)
Publishers weren't corporations before the iPhone?
I don't know what I want. (Score:1, Insightful)
I need Steve to tell me what i want.
Become Publishers? (Score:2, Insightful)
Let's See What Happens When Corporations Become Publishers.
And Random House, HarperCollins, etal. are what, chopped liver?
Re:simple answer (Score:1, Insightful)
http://www.gnu.org
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
http://www.ubuntu.com
Etc, etc.
Re:And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:1, Insightful)
I seem to own a non-Apple phone upon which I can place any content someone will sell me from any of hundreds of websites up to and including self-published applications that aren't even sold through a marketplace.
I don't know whether to be impressed that Apple has apparently convinced you that they're the only choice, or horrified that you didn't stop to think beyond the fact that just because that handset has only one marketplace doesn't mean there's only one marketplace.
Re:And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:simple answer (Score:3, Insightful)
I think this is the first time I've heard someone as senior as [Redhat CEO] Whitehurst admit something rather profound: that open source solutions save money for customers by doing away with the fat margins for existing computer companies – and thus shrink the overall market. [computerworlduk.com]
Giving your work product away and hoping that someone will pay you for it ensures that you will make less money than people who demand fair pay for their work.
quite different (Score:5, Insightful)
This is different to Walmart deciding not to carry content its store owners find objectionable, how?
Apple is trying to become a primary conduit for digital media; if they succeed, then we are stuck with their censorship rules.
That's why people need to understand the danger that Apple poses now, before Apple succeeds in establishing a Microsoft-like monopoly over media, content, and apps.
just like network TV can say "no swearing before 9pm"
TV networks are forced to do that by government rules.
or a store can say "we'll carry all of your products except that flavoured lube you make, it just doesn't fit with our image".
Individual physical stores can't impose worldwide controls over products or content; those that do get big enough to do so are just as much of a concern as Apple is.
Just because other companies are sleazy and dangerous doesn't mean we should stop complaining about Apple.
Re:Why? (Score:1, Insightful)
So...in order to get an official app on my phone that app must be in the app store.
So...in order to get into the app store that app must pass Apple's moral police.
So...that would be censorship.
Re:And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is different to Walmart deciding not to carry content its store owners find objectionable, how?
Apple can say "no penises on the store, even comic ones" just like network TV can say "no swearing before 9pm" or a store can say "we'll carry all of your products except that flavoured lube you make, it just doesn't fit with our image".
Sure. They have the right. And we have both the right and the duty to mock them when they do. If we don't, all publishers will turn into Disneylands. That would be a bad thing, BTW.
Just cause they're a corp and they have the right doesn't mean they should--and it sure as fuck doesn't mean we should shrug and let them get away with it. If they're gonna be moral gatekeepers for millions and millions of people they need to be accountable. Not to their idiot pandering gormless shareholders, but to their audience.
Re:quite different (Score:4, Insightful)
That's why people need to understand the danger that Apple poses now, before Apple succeeds in establishing a Microsoft-like monopoly over media, content, and apps.
Microsoft managed to establish a monopoly on operating systems because there were a small number of computer manufacturers. The barrier to entry into manufacturing was high, and on top of that, they were in a race to the bottom in terms of retail pricing as they were all making essentially the same product from the average consumer's point of view.
There are many creators of content. The barrier to entry is low. There are providers of content parallel to and just as easily accessible by the consumer as Apple.
I don't see an Apple monopoly in any of those areas being inevitable. In fact, it is probably impossible.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, that being said, if I purchase "1984" and wake up one morning and find it missing, then discover the publisher I bought it from repossessed it, I'm going to be ticked off. If they've refunded my purchase price in full, I'll be quite a bit less ticked off.
If it were a hard copy, I wouldn't be the slightest bit less ticked off. I'd be pressing charges for every law they broke in order to take back the book, and throw a lawsuit on top of it for whatever my lawyer could think of. That shit wouldn't fly, which is, I believe, the point of the post you were replying to.
Re:so honestly... (Score:1, Insightful)
They blocked a dictionary app because the dictionary also had definitions for inappropriate words.
Oddly enough, they don't block the Wikipedia app. You can find nudity on Wikipedia. Quick alert Gestapo Steve Jobs!
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, the point is that everybody expects the license for a book to be irreversible.
When I buy the book, I have that license FOR EVER, or until I sell that book and give away that license.
But in this digital age, companies like Amazon or Apple tend to deny me that.
The licences I buy from them come with a lot more limits (but usuallay without being less expensive).
Re:Android (Score:5, Insightful)
Poor little Apple fanbois feel all sad and hurt if you point out that their demigod Steve is an uncultured pathetic little micromanaging dictatorial prick.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:5, Insightful)
Would you really go through all that trouble of getting a lawyer and pressing charges and bringing suits if it were a $20 book? If so, you're probably going to be in the minority.
This is why we're seeing these corporate "micro-crimes" where you get cheated out of $1, $5, $10 or much more. Whether it's something you bought that doesn't work and isn't worth the trouble of returning or a $50 game for which there was no demo that turns out to be garbage or unplayable. Most people just suck it up and move along, which is what the corporation is counting on. You say "I'll never buy from them again" but you do, you always do. Because if you have a Kindle, you're kind of stuck regarding where you can buy your books. If you have an iPhone, you're absolutely stuck as to where you buy your apps. In most American cities, you're stuck as to where you get your broadband.
So I disagree when you say "this shit wouldn't fly" because it's flying all over the place right now.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:4, Insightful)
But the problem isn't licensing, it's DRM - the thing that can prevent you from lending or reselling the book, from using it in multiple devices and that enables them to remotely delete your book.
Re:I'm beginning to believe Steve Jobs (Score:4, Insightful)
I would never even consider owning a telecommunication/internet device that came with somebody's seemingly arbitrary and contradictory moral strictures as the arbiter of what I may use the device for. Ownership of Apple products has always been about willing to go into their secretive walled garden but lately with the hostility and snarkiness that has been shown to both Apple developers and consumers the experience is more akin to living in Gaza.
Yes not being able to buy a book through one (1) store is the same as living in a war zone where the essentials of life are blockaded. That's not overdramatic at all. You can get/buy the book through other channels (as a pdf for example) and put it on your phone to read with another program or, you know, through the friggin' website [ulyssesseen.com] (NSFW, contains traces of nuts) as Apple continuously says to do to get content to the phone without Apple approval. That's not to say this behavior doesn't sucks and doesn't need to be challenged but the hyperbole isn't helping any.
Re:And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:2, Insightful)
It's different because Apple has a monopoly on selling content to the iOS devices. Walmart does not have a monopoly on magazines. This is blatantly obvious to everyone who isn't a through-and-through fanboy. It really amazes me how you idiots go out of your way to defend everything Apple does. And 5, "insightful", as well. Yes, you're a cult.
Re:simple answer (Score:3, Insightful)
If I could give copies of my bread/salad/pies away and still keep the originals, why not?
Re:Android (Score:5, Insightful)
So the fact that you have two platforms --one that's notorious for exerting arbitrary and inconsistent control and another that's known for being 100% open-- really is about as on topic as you can get. The fact that Android is thriving is proof that people don't need (And that at least a fair number of them don't want) that kind of control pushed upon them. It's not a "Apple sucks and Android rules" fanboi statement. It's a simple statement that a platform can survive (and thrive) in a realm without censorship and control (and that corporations can be publishers and yet still be responsible and open about it).
The way the summary (and TFA) is written, it makes it sound like this is a universal problem for all corporations that get into publishing (that they have to walk a fine line between "protecting the users" and limiting censorship). But I think the fact that there is at least one corporation thriving in the industry that doesn't partake in those practices says a heck of a lot (and hence isn't flamebait or offtopic)...
Re:Android (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why I bought an android. Every time I see a story like this it just makes me feel better about my choice
Who the hell publishes a book as an app ? Not even an iBook or whatever they are calling it, an application. If you want to read the book just use THE publishing tool of this age: the internet. The website is here [ulyssesseen.com] (warning contains "plump cartoon penis") and can be read on Android and *gasp* iPhone.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:5, Insightful)
If it were a hard copy, I wouldn't be the slightest bit less ticked off. I'd be pressing charges for every law they broke in order to take back the book, and throw a lawsuit on top of it for whatever my lawyer could think of.
I agree with you. If they took back the (hard copy) book (I would agree with the wording "stole it from me"), I'd be really ticked off, too. If they refunded my purchase price in full, I'd be quite a bit less ticked off. (Please note that I'm not addressing the issue of censorship here.)
And your point here is an excellent one. Recapturing something from someone's hard/flash drive in their home is the digital equivalent of breaking and entering, unless the publisher has a court order/warrant to repossess it. Just because it's licensed, the licensor isn't granted the right to take it back at any time and place. Thank you for emphasizing that. I'm dubious as to whether clicking on a EULA can legally grant a seemingly unlimited right of repossession, just because the media is digital.
So, thanks for hitting another important issue this raises :^)
Re:quite different (Score:4, Insightful)
No (Score:4, Insightful)
Steve's banning of iPhone porn apps from the store is a front. Steve is playing both sides of the porn coin here to make as many people as he can happy.
You can find plenty of iPhone compatible mobile porn websites. These same sites work on any just about other smartphone as well. And the porn industry doesn't need any apps in the app store, because they don't make money on apps, they make money on monthly subscriptions. Sure they would love some kind of free app to drum up more subscriptions, but they aren't bothered too much, they are used to this kind of discrimination. They are also used to their customers hunting them down via Google or clicking thru 15 ads.
It's like Betamax creating a bunch of corner stores and saying "you can't buy porn in our stores" but then being able to go to Joe's porn emporium down the street and get all you want. If Steve really was that concerned he'd have permanently turned on the parental controls on all iPhones. That would be how he would have to shoot his foot clean off, because then he'd have created the VHS/Betamax situation.
Re:quite different (Score:3, Insightful)
We're not talking about creating content (obviously Apple weren't the ones to write this Ulysses app), but about distribution and access to that content.
The barrier to creating content is low. But the barrier to devices to read electronic content - mp3/video players, phones, other portable devices - is very high.
What good is the low barrier to creating content, when you can't get it on the one and only official distribution store? And if you put it on any other server, no one will be able to read it unless they hack their device? Thankfully I don't think there's any way Apple could pull this off for mp3s, but it's the model they're using for mobile applications. (The sad thing is though, that if Apple came out with Ipods that now required all media played on it to be approved by Apple, many people here on Slashdot would be loving it, and saying we shouldn't worry because it's Apple.)
Re:Android (Score:5, Insightful)
You're right, and that's what makes all this doomsdaying about Apple taking over the world so silly. Let Apple make whatever rules they want for their devices/store, and let consumers decide to buy in or go elsewhere. If there's a market for less controlled hardware/content (and there is), then someone will fill that gap. And that's exactly what's happening. It's not magic, it's not an epic battle of good vs. evil, or even open vs. closed. It's different people having different priorities. It happens all the time.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Android (Score:5, Insightful)
Ding! Ding! Ding!
I applaud Google for keeping Android open, and for further allowing me to install apps outside of the market, or even without a market at all. Apple is so power-trip stupid it isn't even funny.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
I think if a publisher stole a hardcopy book from me, but left the ammount that I paid for it in it's place, I'd be even more pissed off. If they just stole it, then it is just that: stealing. It is illegal, they know it is illegal, everyone can see that. However, by leaving me money they are signifiying that they think what they are doing is perfectly ok. It is an attempt to legitimize their action, and prevent me from becoming upset. I'd find it unbelievably insulting.
Re:Why? (Score:2, Insightful)
I see nothing in the definition of "censorship" that requires it to be done by Government, or that it must be illegal to get round it.
Re:And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:4, Insightful)
And that's exactly why stories like this, while tiresome, are important.
In order to make an intelligent choice, you need to make an informed choice. The ongoing, tiresome, boring parade of stories serves to demonstrate exactly what you are buying into when you choose an iDevice. If this represents your ideal in a phone/music player/media consumption device, then these stories should be good news for you and reaffirm your choice. If it does not, you can consider it a warning.
Obviously each author has their own bias, but the facts are what you should be paying attention to. Buy anything based on iOS, and you now have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Whether you think of this as a good thing or a bad thing is up to you, and you shouldn't be swayed by the tone or approval/disapproval of the authors of individual articles, because their priorities are not yours.
Whether it represents your ideal or not, it serves as a continual reminder for those about to make a device choice. Some people like the walled garden and like to be protected from images or content they might not want to accidentally encounter. For them, this story represents all that is goodness and light - because Apple has remained true to its principles and has protected them from the threat of seeing a hand-drawn penis in a webcomic.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
Seeing as the publisher stealing a hardcopy of a book from me would likely also involve breaking and entering, yes. I most certainly would pursue the issue legally.
This is why I don't own a kindle. I don't like to make it easy for others to take advantage of me.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
Recapturing something from someone's hard/flash drive in their home is the digital equivalent of breaking and entering,
Id say that depended rather heavily on what terms you agreed to when you bought the device, wouldnt you?
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
But that doesn't inspire Apple Panic nearly as well as saying the mean ol' turtleneck Nazis are coming to take your apps, from your cold, dead, hands (after they rape your dog and shoot your spouse).
Re:so honestly... (Score:3, Insightful)
They blocked a dictionary app because the dictionary also had definitions for inappropriate words.
Oddly enough, they don't block the Wikipedia app. You can find nudity on Wikipedia. Quick alert Gestapo Steve Jobs!
Here's Apple's rationale in a nutshell : if it's an app sold through our store we might be held liable, if you pull in content of the web voluntarily it's no longer our problem. Seems reasonable to me.
Re:quite different (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft managed to establish a monopoly on operating systems because there were a small number of computer manufacturers. The barrier to entry into manufacturing was high, and on top of that,
Barriers to entry for PCs were also low; the hard part was getting into the distribution channels. It's analogous now: anybody can publish, but for commercial success, you need connections to movie studios, publishing houses, and music distributors. Apple has many of those, few other companies do.
Give me a call when other phones have a smooth UI (Score:1, Insightful)
demigod Steve is an uncultured pathetic little micromanaging dictatorial prick.
With high quality products.
While I'm under no delusion that my iPhone isn't the slave of demigod Steve's whim and will, that trade off is one I'm willing to accept (for the time being) to get a phone that doesn't have a shit-slow laggy UI. Every blackberry I've ever tried, and the Storm was the worst, had this inherent delay to every aspect of the UI that made the phone's quirks ever the more maddening. Also, and with notable exceptions to what I've heard about the HTC Evo (though the battery life is another story), Android phones haven't quite made it to the zero-lag UI state quite yet. Maybe in another couple years that will change.... at least it should, anyway. I'm hoping Microsoft has learned something from Apple, RIM, and others in that regard and will blow us away with WinPhone7.
At the very least, the iPhone does what Steve says it will do right out of the box. Android phones and blackberries, on the other hand, have managed to disappoint over and over, but quite notably they will do what you tell them to do. The average consumer prefers the former trade-off, whereas the average geek prefers the latter one.
In the end, just want to get my email, make phone calls, take pictures/video, and maybe play a game or two. Any smartphone will do that out of the box, but as it stands, the absolute best phone on the market is unfortunately the one that leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth of the informed device owner.
Re:And this is different to Walmart.... (Score:1, Insightful)
Oh wow, a plain-text only reader.
Bummer we are talking about things with pictures.
Re:Android (Score:4, Insightful)
You're right, and that's what makes all this doomsdaying about Apple taking over the world so silly. Let Apple make whatever rules they want for their devices/store, and let consumers decide to buy in or go elsewhere. If there's a market for less controlled hardware/content (and there is), then someone will fill that gap. And that's exactly what's happening. It's not magic, it's not an epic battle of good vs. evil, or even open vs. closed. It's different people having different priorities. It happens all the time.
For consumers to make a informed decision, they should be informed first. And it's stories like this and the comments which inform people. And it IS indeed an epic battle. The iPhone is restricted via DRM and trusted computing wrapped in a pretty package. Many geeks who cried foul half a decade ago about Trusted Computing and DRM(it's bad only if Microsoft does it I guess) have been taken in the by the 'ooh, shiny' factor and now actively defend Apple's practices.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, better in the irony department would have been forcibly erasing everyone's copy of Farenheit 451.
Re:Android (Score:4, Insightful)
Stories like this perhaps, comments like the one we are all replying to not so much. For one thing, this comment is on a web site where if you *don't* understand the trade offs that between iPhone and most of the other major options out there, you've probably been stuck on a desert island with no Internet access for the last 3 years. I don't need to be "informed" of the weakness of my (currently) chosen platform, and neither, I think, do any other iPhone owners reading Slashdot. I've chosen to use an iPhone because it's the best user experience for a phone I've encountered (so far) and it doesn't lock down or screw up anything that I find important or necessary (so far). That may change in future, but for the moment I'm both happy with my choice and aware of its shortcomings, thank you.
Which brings to me to my second point, which I'll admit is not as relevant to the current comment chain. Many if not most of these sort of comments include an obligatory reference to "fanbois", "cults", "morons", "reality distortion fields", etc. This thread has several such comments (though not the original poster). It's irritating to say the least, and tends to make people defensive. Personally, I take a very practical approach to technology. I use Free Software, Open Source Software, closed source software, or DRM encumbered software as I see fit based on the effectiveness of the tool, and cost-benefit ratio. Right now, for me, the cost of using an iPhone in freedom to do certain things that I didn't really want to do anyway is outweighed by the benefit of using a tool that accomplishes what I want it to in the most elegant way I've seen on a phone.
Long story short, I appreciate the need for stories like this. I appreciate comments that further discussion of why this was an appropriate or inappropriate action by Apple (personally I think it was bloody stupid, but that's neither here nor there). I don't appreciate comments who's tone and content basically boil down to "Ha ha I'm smarter that you to have bought this other phone." I don't really particularly care that the App Store forbids naked people. If I want porn on my iPhone it has a web browser, PDF viewer, or I can download the free B&N or Amazon e-book clients. It's a silly rule, but it affects me not at all in my day to day life. If it starts to I'll change platforms.
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Insightful)
Lets say I sell you a car (I know I know, oblig.). You fork over £5000, I fork over the keys, you drive home. 1 month later, you wake up to find the car missing, and £5000 deposited in your bank account. You eventually notice I've emailed you saying "took the car back, cheers".
You'd obviously be pissed, refund or no. Even though no breaking or entering or mugging happened, you'd still be unhappy that something you thought you owned has suddenly up and gone.
Now lets say you complain, I tell you that by buying from me you actually agreed to a great big bundle of terms and conditions that I never forced you to read (but were available on my website, and pinned up on my shop wall, if you'd cared to look). Would you magically be less pissed?