A MAD Magazine contributor has been told by Apple that his iPhone app featuring drawings and contact information of members of the 111th Congress has been rejected because it depicts politicians in an objectionable light.
According to Tom Richmond, who wrote about his app’s rejection on his personal blog, his app–dubbed Bobble Rep-111th Congress Edition–in no way should have been construed as objectionable.
Richmond said that the focus of the app was to create a “database of all the members of the United States Congress which allowed the user to find the names and contact information of their senators and congressional representative either via Zip code or by using the iPhone’s GPS location services.” Rather than use the politicians’ individual portraits, the app depicts each senator and representative in caricature form, which Richmond drew himself. All told, the app features 540 caricatures of the politicians.
C’mon Apple… lighten up a little. Cripes!
UPDATE: If you would like to complain to Apple about the censorship, here is the address: appreview@apple.com
UPDATE (Nov. 14): Apple has relented and allowed the app to be sold.
If these guys can’t parody our politicians nobody can. I mean after all they’ve been doing just that since the 50’s (I think). They’ve been making a living like that for generations. OTH I’m sure they got crap that’s a lot more offensive on the crAPP store. They must’ve received some very specific pressure from a very specific person to reject this one.
25 years in IT and this is the first time I ever sent an email Apple or went to their www site. Their censorship is so much worse than the application could ever be.
How nice. But they approved an iPhone Nazi application:
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/app-store-hypocrisy-update-mein-kampf-complete-with-nazi-logo-approved/
It seems like a useful app. Being able to have the names and phone numbers of all politicians would be useful if you need to contact them for feedback, petitioning the government, etc.
The problem is that the government doesn’t want to hear from us. They want to pass healthcare and stuff when we don’t want them too. They call us teabaggers, rednecks, too stupid to know their own interest.
Well guess what. We know who you they are and what their phone numbers are. If our phone calls and rallies don’t make a difference we will respond the one way they can’t ignore. We will vote on Tuesday, November 2, 2009 and replace them with people who will listen to us, who won’t call us stupid rednecks, and who will clean up Washington.
oh come on, portraits or caricatures is there really a difference?
just look at ol’ dennis kucinich
http://images.google.com/images?q=dennis%20kucinich&sourceid=opera&num=0&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
No wonder no one with any sense buys their shit!
# 3 jopa
An interesting point about that is (in Australia) they censor the word Nazi (to N**i) in the iTunes store and refused to put my review up that criticized the decision.
By the way I do not think they should censor Mein Kampf (everyone should be able to see how tedious and banal it is) or this App.
I dislike Microsoft so I use Apple, maybe I should try open source.
Wait till the real Apple tax comes. When Congress decides that Apple has made enough money or too much money and that it is in the public interest that this wealth be seized and redistributed for the good of people maybe then they will change their minds on this app.
Not that i agree with Apple’s caricature rejection (it’s ridiculous) but perhaps the real reason is for it is more under “exploitation of an individual for commercial purposes”.
Even politicians have a right to protect themselves against unauthorized & uncompensated usage of their personages. First Amendment & free speech liberties, i.e., ‘Right of Publicity’ considerations doesn’t extend to profiting.
Not too long ago Schwarzenegger sued a bobble-head maker for just that:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/national/18arnold.html
..and although it would naturally seem that charicaturist Tom Richmond and his partner would be ultimately responsible for the content and thus any poss. litigation, Apple of course knows that it would be a richer target.
Good for Apple. Leave the cartoons for Fox News viewers. Let’s not spread the ignorance any further than necessary.
its too bad…fun gadget but unfortunately infested with officious black turtlenecked douchbags…
see kids…communism doesn’t pay…