Apple's Tim Cook will 'take a look' at controversial Saudi app used to track women

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised his company will "take a look" at Absher, a Saudi government app with a feature letting men control the travel of their wives and daughters.

"I haven't heard about it," Cook said in an NPR interview on Tuesday. "But obviously we'll take a look at it if that's the case."

Apple and Google have come under increasing pressure to do something about the app. While it has innocent purposes such as paying parking tickets, it can be used to monitor and limit the travel of women under a man's guardianship. Groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have expressed concern.

The matter intensified on Tuesday when Oregon Senator Ron Wyden issued a letter to Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, calling on the two to take action and kick the app out of their respective app stores. In theory the Saudi government could simply remove the tracking features and resubmit, but the country is notoriously resistant to outside pressure on its social policies, which are based on a version of Islam that even many other Muslim countries see as too strict.

"It is hardly news that the Saudi monarchy seeks to restrict and repress Saudi women, but American companies should not enable or facilitate the Saudi government's patriarchy," Wyden wrote. "By permitting the app in your respective stores, your companies are making it easier for Saudi men to control their family members from the convenience of their smartphones and restrict their movement. This flies in the face of the type of society you both claim to support and defend."

Apple and Cook in particular are frequently vocal about human rights issues in the U.S., including those concerning gender and race. It has repeatedly shut down investor motions to set up a human rights committee, however, and has been accused of maintaining double standards overseas, turning a blind eye to abuses in the Middle East and China in order to preserve its business interests.

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15 Comments

Dead_Pool 129 comments · 8 Years

About 5 years ago

My old lady told me she wants this to monitor me at the dog track

georgie01 437 comments · 8 Years

Yes, we need to police Saudi Arabia...I hope we will also accept them policing us as well.

It’s one thing if people are actually being overtly harmed, but it’s another thing if our severe over-sensitivity to a ‘patriarchy’ (which doesn’t even exist anymore in the US, at least as described by modern feminism) makes us want to fix other countries when potential offences by this app are likely to be very minor the vast majority of the time. It’s more the ‘idea’ of the app which we find offensive, and it’s not our place to make decisions for other countries and then cherrypick extreme examples to justify ourselves.

MacPro 19838 comments · 18 Years

georgie01 said:

Yes, we need to police Saudi Arabia...I hope we will also accept them policing us as well.

It’s one thing if people are actually being overtly harmed, but it’s another thing if our severe over-sensitivity to a ‘patriarchy’ (which doesn’t even exist anymore in the US, at least as described by modern feminism) makes us want to fix other countries when potential offences by this app are likely to be very minor the vast majority of the time. It’s more the ‘idea’ of the app which we find offensive, and it’s not our place to make decisions for other countries and then cherrypick extreme examples to justify ourselves.

I see what you are saying there. Not that I condone the unequal treatment of women for a second especially in countries like Saudia Arabia and dare I say the USA ... equal pay duh? I often keep tabs on my wife and I am told by some people this is creepy and intrusive. My wife is a Realtor and when she is out with clients I keep close tabs on her via Find Friends. When she does an open house I sit on the lanai or pool deck and read. Maybe I am just old fashioned.

urahara 733 comments · 13 Years

As I understood, the app doesn't provide any tracking by itself. It's just a gateway for other services, including those provided by the goverment.

lee493 22 comments · 11 Years

georgie01 said:

Yes, we need to police Saudi Arabia....

This isn't "policing" Saudi Arabia. They are not being asked here to change their laws. Apple and Google - private companies, not the government - are merely being asked not to approve and put an app on their app stores can be used for nefarious purposes, for which they profit from when downloaded. This is something Apple does with every app submission and this one isn't being singled out or treated differently.