Quote:
Originally Posted by Gudy
And that's the way it should be. If a certain purveyor of goods, digital or otherwise, is chronically prone to bouts of abject and gross stupidity, I want to know about it, so I can avoid them like the plague or otherwise factor in that stupidity when doing business with them. The fact that some of their staff are sensible people means far less in that regard, especially if there aren't enough of those to keep the stupid ones in check.
Besides, these episodes nicely refresh my memory regarding any policies about content those censoring bastards decide is too dangerous for my fragile mind, regardless of my own opinion on the matter.
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Or, for an explanation that is a bit more nuanced than mine, try this (from Pam Jones of Groklaw):
Quote:
From: Pamela Jones <pj@groklaw.com>
Date: May 23, 2009 5:52:53 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Apple's iPhone Channels the Prudes -- "Pick a Little, Talk a Little!"
I think what Apple is doing makes good legal sense. If you saw the recent litigation by Cartier against Apple, you see that people won't sue the 3rd party apps authors; they'll sue deep pocket Apple.
Cartier dropped the suit after Apple dropped the app Cartier found infringing. http://blogs.computerworld.com/carti...pp_third_party
What does that tell us? That Apple can get sued for whatever apps it allows.
If I were Apple, I'd be very careful what I endorsed as an iPhone or iTouch app, one that could use the Apple name, for the simple reason that there are litigious jerks out there who will sue large and successful companies.
Apple doesn't create those jerks; it merely has to live among them. By the way, if you go to PACER and search for all litigation with Apple in the header, you get more than 6,000 results. It is what it is, and their lawyers are just trying to cope with expected legal issues. I'm sure Apple couldn't care less what you read.
You can already read the Kama Sutra if you want to on your iPhone. Just use your Safari browser and go to Project Gutenberg or Wikipedia.
Seriously.
Of use your Kindle app.
Apple, as I see it, just doesn't want to get sued. Maybe it noticed the S.C. attorney general going after Craigslist, even thought here was zero chance of it being appropriate.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05...er_craigslist/
PJ
Groklaw
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