Acting on a demand from the Trump administration, Apple has removed apps that let iPhone users report the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
“We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store—and Apple did so,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement to Fox News yesterday. “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed.”
Apple confirmed it removed multiple apps after hearing from law enforcement. “We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps,” an Apple statement to news organizations said. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”
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So fuck Apple out of principle and for the optics game they’re playing, but (and I wish I could find the citation that says it better than my summary) I’ve read solid criticisms of that app for the developer
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not engaging with preexisting anti-Ice organizations to see what would actually help them
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ignoring them when they told him that these sorts of things agent that helpful because of the very high incidence of mistaken identification (someone mistakes other cops for ICE, or saboteurs / infiltrators / ICE themselves use the reporting tools to sow fear and confusion)
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not making it open source
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not understanding security or threat modelling
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generally doing the white savior thing of “omg this is suddenly a disaster but I shall lead y’all to safety, follow me!” (proceeds to completely ignore the needs of the people he’s supposedly trying yo help, making it a vanity project)
I don’t know more than that, I read it on some Lemmy link and can’t find it anymore because all the news is full of this newest development.
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