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Apple Refuses to Approve App That Alerts You to U.S. Drone Strikes

Aug. 30, 2012 12:04pm Liz Klimas

Have you ever cared to know every time there was a U.S. drone strike? Perhaps not, but an app that could have informed you of every drone attack launched by the U.S. with statistics on the location, result and fatalities has been rejected — three times.

What would be the point of such an app?

“I thought reaching into the pockets of U.S. smartphone users and annoying them into drone-consciousness could be an interesting way to surface the conversation a bit more,” Drone+ app developer Josh Begley told Wired.

Drone+, a Drone Strike Notification App, Rejected by Apple Three Times for Various Reasons

(Image: Vimeo screenshot)

Take a look at this demonstration of how the app would work:

The app, which pulls together public information of drone strikes from the U.K.’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism, is described by Wired as “deliberately threadbare.” It’s not your most intricate or flashy of apps. This is one of the reasons Apple rejected the app. Wired notes other rejection letters saying this knowledge would “not [be] useful” and that it considers content of the app “objectionable and crude”:

Begley, a student at Clay Shirky’s NYU Media Lab, submitted a threadbare version of Drones+ to Apple in July. About two weeks later, on July 23, Apple told him was just too blah. “The features and/or content of your app were not useful or entertaining enough,” read an e-mail from Apple Begley shared with Wired, “or your app did not appeal to a broad enough audience.”

Finally, on Aug. 27, Apple gave him yet another thumbs down. But this time the company’s reasons were different from the fairly clear-cut functionality concerns it previously cited. “We found that your app contains content that many audiences would find objectionable, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines,” the company e-mailed him.

(Image: Vimeo screenshot)

“If the content is found to be objectionable, and it’s literally just an aggregation of news, I don’t know how to change that,” Begley said to Wired.

The tech blog Tecca calls this a “seemingly random rejection” given that the data comes from public sources, not secret intelligence:

Having dabbled in the world of iPhone app development myself, the app doesn’t appear to be breaking any of the cardinal rules set forth by Apple, and it’s unclear why the very plain GPS data could be seen as “crude.”

Begley said he is unsure if he will try to go through Apple with the app for a fourth round. He is considering trying it through Android.

Do you see a value in an drone strike notification app? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Comments (25)

ewb
Posted on September 3, 2012 at 2:27pm
Well, yes we can, but it wont matter. Nobody remembers the daily body count that was the basis for the lie that we were winning the Viet Nam war. Most can’t remember the name of the Secretary of Defense who thought this was how you won wars, i.e., kill them all.

So bring on the app to add to the ridiculous number that are already out there. I just wonder if they play poker at the White House with the deck of cards Obama uses.

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The_Cabrito_Goat
Posted on August 31, 2012 at 12:47pm
If our enemy was anything else besides the Taliban, I would not see much honor in a drone strike attack. But these people stuff explosives in the mud flap of cows, then march them toward our soldiers. So I’m not very sympathetic.

My point is that UAVs loaded with AGM missiles should be for tactical purposes only in the thick of battle, simply for fairness sake. Where is the heroism behind a computer desk? There’s no glory in using robots for a warrior’s job.

But like I said, if we were fighting anybody else, I would be against drones as a sole military strategy. Since we are fighting psychopaths who use women as shields and target nurseries, I have no problem with hellfire missiles.

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FuturePresident
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 7:10pm
This app will be very useful once strikes start happening here.

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anothercomment
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 2:46pm
Let’s look at this from a different perspective: does anyone remember that the federal government has approved drones to be used in the United States to augment law enforcement (without weapons capability, yet)? Perhaps the concept of potential drone strikes take on a whole new meaning when we are suddenly faced with one of those things while: driving too fast, walking our dogs at night, outdoor photography or any behavior that potentially places a target on our back. This young man is thinking outside the box when it comes to technology: just change some of the names on the map to Boulder, Schenectady, New Orleans, or anywhere in Arizona.
I am not an ‘appleite’, nor do I want to know the secrets of how our military needs to fight our wars.
Note: just as unsettling as the ideal of dones in US skies is the app I found on my Blackberry benignly called “alert messages”. Further exploration revealed the check list for types of messages: extreme threat alert, severe threat alert, Amber alert message, and at the top of the list: Presidential Alert Message. All of the alerts can be deactivated with the exception of the Presidential Alert Message. I did not download this application, but I found where the file was downloaded, possibly within persistent update message I kept receiving from BB. As safe and sound that it may seem, when you don’t trust the administration, you question the motives.

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65Plus
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 2:28pm
Apple, the Original “We Track You Without Your Knowledge or Permission” Corporation, would be the last Corp. to “approve” such an application.

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- ewb
  Posted on September 3, 2012 at 2:05pm
  Not only them, but their google map ap is shockingly accurate. It was able to show me looking down on the roof of my house where the iphone was sitting within a few feet. Made me think I should maybe sleep with the iPhone located away from me. Yes, you can turn location off, but most assuredly Apple will be able to turn it back on if a government agency requests it.
  
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progressiveslayer
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 1:14pm
Crony capitalism at it’s finest.

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- mamatango
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 3:48pm
  I’d say it’s the new Surveillance Society at it’s worst. It’s SICK! I think we are on news-overload 24/7 as it is, and that may have something to do with what I see as a world turning slowly to violence and insanity. I certainly don’t want to have my phone alert me every time a human being dies or has their home destroyed! What are we to become? Animals?
  
  The only app I’d be interested in is one that alerts me to when a drone is 3 minutes away from flying over my house!!!!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Winedude
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 4:42pm
  You’re just bummed out that you’ve never been one of the cronies…
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 5:27pm
  WINEO Stupid people always make assumptions,that’s why they always fail at everything they do,so keep making assumptions.
  
  Report this comment
Snake
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 1:03pm
Some of you really need to learn how to read if you think this app releases anything secret. The app ONLY releases already known public info. Others here have even told us how they do it now with other news apps. Learn to read MAN-ON-A-MISSION!!!!!

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JohnQTaxpayer
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:46pm
Who is the treasonous bastard that wants to release this information to our enemies?

We need to bring back the firing squad for these traitors.

Ready….. Aim…..Boom…. Dead….. traitor gone

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- Locked
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 1:11pm
  “Who is the treasonous bastard that wants to release this information to our enemies?”
  
  … apparently the UK media reports, as that’s where the app draws its information from:
  “The app, which pulls together public information of drone strikes from the U.K.’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism, is described by Wired as “deliberately threadbare.””
  
  Reading: it’s helpful!
  
  Report this comment
- realitysucks
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 1:20pm
  Can’t you read? This app just takes info from the news and puts it in one spot. There is no classified info involved. It is the ignorance you show by the knee-jerk reaction of yours that contributes to the idea of the “stupid American”. Learn to read and actually understand what you read so you don’t cause me o be considered stupid when I leave the country.
  
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Joel Knows
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:22pm
Hmmm…who does Apple appeal to the most? What demographic of the population are the main target of having to have Apple products? Why did Apple first target education and teachers, then pseudo creative types like journalists, artists, and muscians for their preferred market? I wouldn’t say Apple is in cahoots with the government, just the progressive movement who deal on fuzzy/feely logic instead of facts.

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- justangry
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:39pm
  Check out their CFR membership.
  
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KevINtampa
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:20pm
This is simply information, I buy smart phones to keep information at my finger tips. I WANT THIS APP. That said, I have NEWS360 on my tablet with a custom section I made for drones that works pretty well. The map with the pins in it though is pretty cool and would be good at bars and social gatherings of showing people just how much destruction we use these things for. Comes in handy when people say disagreeing with police and DHS drones over American skies is paranoid; showing people the data of how drones are used overseas would change a lot of minds.

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RightUnite
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:17pm
And why would anyone buy this product knowing this?? Can we all say STUPIDITY?? Don’t buy it. Let Apple know you’re not happy with their decision. Hurt them in the pocketbook.

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Man-On-A-Mission
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:11pm
This is stupid and a leak to National Security……

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- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:19pm
  Wonder how long ago Obama gave this stuff to China, Russia and Iran?
  
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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:37pm
  It’s taken from public information. Howe exactly is this a “leak”? Furthermore, why do you feel the
  American public doesn’t deserve to know how/when/why our tax dollars are being used to lob rockets into countries that we haven’t declared war upon? If our ships were firing on boats from other nations is that also not newsworthy?
  
  Report this comment
blanco5
Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:08pm
How much more proof does one need to realize that apple is in cahoots with the government? I will buy the apple knock off before I will give them any more of my money–which is hard to do b/c I do love apple products.

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- RobbieTLHughie
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:21pm
  What in God’s name are you talking about?
  
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- blanco5
  Posted on August 30, 2012 at 12:40pm
  We can’t have the general public keeping tally on how many drone strikes that will go on prez islama’a record! You know, the one who got that nobel peace prize?
  
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- ewb
  Posted on September 3, 2012 at 2:36pm
  Well yes we can! But it doesn’t matter. Nobody remembers the body count from the Viet Nam war, which was the basis for the lie that we were winning. Or the name of the Secretary of Defense who tried to make a business out of running it. The progressives haven’t even had to diguise the fact that they were in control of Congress and the Presidency when they involved the country in it. Everybody just makes assumptions its not their fault.
  
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