https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-removes-whatsapp-threads-from...
Apple even has a website about it: (there dozens of such takedowns each year.)
https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/app-removal-request...
Just business
I am going to use this news to hit every lemming in the face - those who claim corpo-controlled walled gardens are good for you and grandma.
The idea that something like ICEBlock is benevolent and doesn’t make the user a criminal by association just doesn’t register.
I suppose you're making the argument that current US immigration law is unjust and immoral to begin with and therefore should be actively circumvented?
Immigration is a veneer around "grab whoever we want with no due process".
And eventually, when all our hardware is runs-software-and-settings-signed-by-approved-entity-only, that last 1% can't do anything about it either.
A basic website should be easier to write and maintain than any app, because you don't have to maintain both the server and the client.
Capitulating over this is Apple showing their supposed core values have significantly hollowed
The way I see it of all the top tech giants, Apple has the most to lose with all the tariff shenanigans, so it’s in their [shareholders] interest to stay friends with the current administration.
Apple has never had moral values other than earning money by making great products.
And I say this as someone who is deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem.
My Apple shareholder interest is for Apple to preserve its reputation in the long term, including when Trump is long gone.
Please stop repeating this "shareholders only care about short-term money" idea.
Their reputation will be fine, no one but the terminally online are going to stop buying an iPhone because of this.
Pretty sure most of their shareholders feel similarly.
But it's far from the only way Cook has aligned himself with Trump in just the last few months. The dumb gold-glass plaque and the UK royal visit are two much more visible examples.
So are we talking anything?
Tim Cook is a very shareholder-friendly CEO. One of the first things he did after he became CEO, which jobs always refused, was to start stock buybacks.
I have a hard time believing Apple getting in legal fights with the current administration is something that shareholders will appreciate, even if it’s better in the long term.
Regardless, if shareholders care about long term instead of short term, shareholders - as a whole - put the wrong CEO in charge.
> Cook then offered his own bottom line to Danhof, or any other critic, one which perfectly sums up his belief that social and political and moral leadership are not antithetical to running a business. “If that’s a hard line for you,” Cook continued, “then you should get out of the stock.”
That of course was now almost a decade ago. They seem to have changed their entire messaging and with it, seemingly their interest in being more than a ROI machine.
It’s a regression not a step forward. Apple was never a paragon but this was legitimately a step in the right direction I felt, but alas, I suspect in today’s culture I am increasingly in the minority position
Apple hasn’t had any values aside from its bottom line since Cook took over.
I don’t know that that is fair.
This framing is designed to shame people into feeling guilty for their point of view, rather than their actions.
Being complicit means to be knowingly involved in or facilitating an illegal or wrongdoing act. In my books, it requires a level of participation that I don’t think your characterization meets.
Having a point of view and then using that point of view to make public claims, often counter-claims in face of precisely this type of criticism, is an action. Examples are easily found on this forum.
> or wrongdoing act
Which includes simple dishonesty.
At the same time the government of an ostensibly free country that values free speech should absolutely not be making these demands.
At this point I expect such behavior from this administration, they aren't pretending to be anything other than incompetent and corrupt.
Shame on Apple for helping these scumbags, now and in the future.
The governments will always have the power, that's pretty much built into the definition of government.
So, technology needs to be built with this reality in mind. Thus, avoid all centralization.
Is it blocked globally, or only for U.S. app store phones? Are downloads blocked, or is the app being removed from phones it's already on?
Damn right.
Where is the court order? Pursuant to what law?
This is a fight between a government and its people which Apple is in the middle of.
> "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," Bondi added.
I’d say it still applies.
Right, so the fundamental problem is having a device where the software that runs on it is controlled by a single company. It creates the attractive nuisance of being able to choke off anything the government doesn't like because, as you said, that single point of contact can't avoid obeying the government.
Computing needs to be open and controlled only by each individual owner of each device, so anyone can run whatever they like sourced from wherever they like.
The fundamental problem here is not specific to Apple; It’s specific to a regime that is overstepping its bounds daily.
So it’s the same then. Google can just “unverify” a developer who has published an app the kings don’t approve of.
Jokes aside, when has pandering to people to change the status quo of colloquial word use ever worked?
Give me guarantees, or the closest approximation. Federation, distribution, dispersion of authority, interoperability.
What’s the incentive?
The software on our primary machines used to not need blessing, but that too changed.
Thats weird because you dont need iceblock to know that ICE is at an ICE facility
Its for when they’re spotted in neighborhoods
dumb rationale, dumb response
The acquiescence of megacorps is essential for fascism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_collaboration_with_Na...
JUST SAY NO!
and until it happens and even after it happens people will be saying “it’s not so bad”
Apple did the whole show with FBI because it was convenient for them. They bend the knee faster than anyone when things get a little uncomfortable.
According to Grok, "In March 2011, four Democratic senators—Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.)—sent letters to Apple, Google, and Research in Motion (BlackBerry's parent company) urging the removal of such apps […]"
So, we have precedent where four Democratic senators pressured Apple to remove an app that allowed people to evade law enforcement.
Congressional dysfunction isn't an excuse to allow the creation of a shadow government orchestrated by the executive but here we are.
No, they continued to allow police location apps (Google maps will even tell you where they are).
The language they added to the app store rules were very specific: "Apps may only display DUI checkpoints that are published by law enforcement agencies, and should never encourage drunk driving or other reckless behavior such as excessive speed."
Whether or not that was a good idea at the time (it wasn't), you can't claim this is covered by the same guidelines.
-SCOTUS majority, American GOP.
Text or e-mail.
The feds recently declared a massive no-fly zone for drones over Chicago [1] and they've been raiding entire apartment buildings and destroying people's property, incl. property of US citizens [2]. It's clear the feds are placing further and further pressure on any attempts to record or track ICE activity and their illegal operations. Regardless of the efficacy or security of the ICEBlock app it's a trend that clearly should be a red alarm. There's nothing stopping ICE from raiding where you live and destroying your shit.
[1] https://www.twz.com/air/massive-drone-no-fly-zone-imposed-ov...
[2] https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/01/massive-...
This isn't specific to ICE, and sovereign immunity especially around law enforcement is a topic that has been contested for a while. Every now and then there's a story that pops up of some innocent's house being destroyed due to a clerical error leading the local SWAT team to look for drugs at the wrong address.
By Apple, because it's Apple that a) refuses to implement advanced PWA features in WebKit and b) refuses to allow apps to use other browser engines.
It’s just a meaningless talking point without specifics
No one is holding republican voters responsible for their hypocrisy and duplicity.
No one is holding the elected members of congress responsible for their part in break-down in rule of law.
No one is holding accountable, those public officials who lie with impunity.
The govt. has become a mob rule, in a country without law and order.
I mean, an elected president is talking about "war within", teaching "democratic cities a lesson", and all that sweet fascist rhetoric, and no one is on the streets protesting.
The country is already in step 2 of a downward spiral that is inevitable for nations built on loose foundations, where materialism takes precedence over morals and values, where role models are butt shaking music stars, where accumulation of wealth is celebrated over righteous behavior, where spectacle is more important than critical thinking. This is a nation that puts wealth above everything.
For Apple, the govt. could shut down its business for a quarter, with not much as a credible squeak from the "land of the free and home of the brave". For Apple, it may have rich coffers, but it has no power.
The country doesn't care.
The demagogue is at the helm and he rules with an iron fist. Be it sending troops against his own citizens, using crushing force against his political opponents or conducting massive corruption right in the middle of town square.
The people don't care. They turn sideways and pardon public lies, in the name of identity and groupism. The wealthy don't care because they can bribe the govt. for favors. The poor don't care because if they care, they sleep hungry and they die.
America is ripe for revolution.
Edit : The news is not Apple folding. The news is the power transition we are seeing, from the wealthy, to the ruler.
Trump doesn't hold a candle to FDR when it comes to being an authoritarian.
Can you point to any speeches that Biden gave, that talk about sending troops to republican majority cities?
> Trump doesn't hold a candle to FDR when it comes to being an authoritarian
He holds a lighthouse.
Biden's rhetoric was never fascist. While one might argue his political positions, he was always a champion of democracy. On the other hand, Trump's rhetoric is fascist almost all the time and his government shows all the signs of wanting to demolish democracy.
"The other side did it too.."
It should be
"No side must do it. It must stop now"
But you can't. From inception to this point, the wealthy have made it so that there are only two parties and both of them sing to their tune.
Why not? If you can pressure someone into fighting your fight for you, you do it.
aspenmayer•1h ago