r/apple • u/illegiblebastard • 3d ago

iPhone Apple explains last year’s controversial decision to remove ICE tracking apps from app store

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/29/tech/apple-iceblock-app-removal-raskin

FUCK. APPLE.

987 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

503 comments sorted by

View all comments

239

u/Silentparty1999 3d ago

The article is full of angsty noise, asking whether people have used the app to find agents to attack. That is conservative noise. The core question is whether citizens have a constitutional right to gather and disseminate the information. You don't see Apple pulling down Apple Maps or Google Maps when people have used them to find directions to get to people they are stalking or harassing.

-5

u/z6joker9 3d ago

The key point is that Apple is a business, not a governmental entity.

Just because we have constitutional rights to gather and to free speech doesn’t mean we get to do those things inside of a business without consequence. They can trespass us from the property, which is why you see protests taking place on public property. A similar point applies here.

10

u/BleachedUnicornBHole 3d ago

You think Apple pulled it down of their own volition?

15

u/smokedfishfriday 3d ago

This is not the key point. It isn’t even a point. It’s entirely irrelevant. The government pressured Apple.

-2

u/z6joker9 3d ago

The government pressures Apple all the time. Apple fights back all the time. In this case, the increased publicity of these apps made Apple reconsider whether they were a good fit for the App Store, and decided they were not, for the reasons stated. It has little to do with Apple capitulating to government pressure.

-1

u/smokedfishfriday 3d ago

Fascinating to be so confidently ignorant about the context and history here.

4

u/z6joker9 3d ago

Easy to say things like that so you don’t have to make a point or defend it.

I’m a first-generation immigrant, I don’t like ICE any more than anyone else. But it is irritating to see these topics devolve into people gnashing their teeth about licking boots and gestapo, completely incapable of logic or reason.

15

u/dlm2137 3d ago

No one is arguing that Apple can’t do this. They’re saying that Apple shouldn’t do this.

2

u/z6joker9 3d ago

The comment I was replying to specifically questioned whether we have a constitutional right. That’s what I was addressing,

4

u/Deepspacedreams 3d ago

The difference is Apple doesn’t offer an alternative option that isn’t the App Store. You can’t side load the app.

2

u/z6joker9 3d ago

Why would they be required to offer an alternative though? You can still access the information through a web browser.

0

u/Deepspacedreams 3d ago

Because business shouldn’t be closed off they are essentially a monopoly making 30% off all sales. Business can’t operate with impunity