Sam OliverThe application "WikiLeaks App" advertised that it gave "instant access to the world's most documented leakage of top secret memos and other confidential government documents." It sold for $1.99, and was originally approved by Apple and made available for sale on the App Store on Dec. 17.
Though Apple has not formally given a reason for removing the application, it joins a number of major U.S. corporations that have attempted to stand in the way of WikiLeaks, including Amazon, which stopped hosting data on its "Web Services" business, and PayPal, which blocked funding to the organization.
Update: Apple provided a comment to Business Insider: "We removed WikiLeaks because it violated developer guidelines. An app must comply with all local laws. It may not put an individual or target group in harms way."
The application also charged $1.99 for content that is freely available on the Internet, though the creator of the software, Igor Barinov, wrote in a comment on TechCrunch that he was only keeping about 30 cents per sale.
"Main idea of semicharity is to collect 'white' money to support grey stuff," he wrote. "And from every 1.99$ - 1$ will go to @wikileaks, 0.6$ to fruits company (obligation), and last to cover development costs and to support other free internet projects (or in different way, defined by voting feature in Wikileaks App 2.0)."
It's also possible that the application's "donations" to WikiLeaks were considered in violation of Apple's own publicly published App Store Review Guidelines. The rules state that "Apps that include the ability to make donations to recognized charitable organizations must be free," and "the collection of donations must be done via a website in Safari or an SMS."
In September, Apple relaxed its App Store review policies and published its official guidelines for developers to see. The frankly written document had statements like "we don't need any more fart apps," and that it didn't want the App Store to turn into "amateur hour."
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128 Comments
Big Brother Apple strikes again...
This is what I don't like the most about Apple. Censorship!
They have no business telling us what we're supposed to read or consume.
When will they see the light?
This is what I don't like the most about Apple. Censorship!
They have no business telling us what we're supposed to read or consume.
When will they see the light?
They're not telling you what you can or can't read. They may not want to support WikiLeaks, the same way PayPal and MC don't. And they don't have to make it easy for you to read materials that were illegally obtained, much the way they don't have to have a 'pirated book' app.
This is what I don't like the most about Apple. Censorship!
They have no business telling us what we're supposed to read or consume.
When will they see the light?
Fully agreed. But I don't think they ever will as they love censorship so much.
This is what I don't like the most about Apple. Censorship!
They have no business telling us what we're supposed to read or consume.
When will they see the light?
Actually they do since it's their platform. They own it it's their house it's their rules. They can't however censor the Internet because they don't own it and control it. You can still go the wikileaks website if you really want to.
Apple chose not to get in the middle of this controversy. Regardless of how you feel about wikileaks or which side you're on. But it's still a no win situation for Apple because people will criticize them whether they pull the app or not. People like you obviously are criticizing Apple for censorship. And people who are against Wikileaks will criticize Apple for having Wikileaks content on the app store.