Comment by motohagiography
4 years ago
Just to extend my comment in response to how this problem will spread:
By doing surveillance on types of images, Apple is in effect implementing anti-virus - for ideas. That's only a bit hyperbolic, as the perceptual hash for a viral meme can be searched on, just like the material they're using as a pretext for it.
I could even see them announcing it at a launch. We should be concerned that the company has skipped its Black Mirror stage and jumped right into its Universal Paperclips endgame.
(I'm also appreciating the irony that people like me being angry about Apple announcing they're going to implement a version of what Google has already been technically able to do for the last decade, and what Microsoft has probably been doing in secret since even before then.)
Apple already disallows lots of ideas.
You can't make these apps for iOS (NSFW!) https://sexgames.citor3.com/
And arguably, if you've tried apps like those in actual VR their impact doesn't come close in non VR. But, since Apple doesn't carry porn in the app store and doesn't allow other stores Apple is effectively banning thoughts.
You can’t autocomplete "shit" via the iOS keyboard and several other swear or politically incorrect words.
Why do people accept being treated like children?
iPhone=Disneyland, Linux=Real world
>Why do people accept being treated like children?
Because some cultures have a religious-inherited "sin-avoidance" problem, and e.g. try to ban alcohol, disney-fy public discussion, lose it if a tit is accidentally shown, and are "shocked" if somebody utters "fuck" in a late night show.
(It doesn't help that many of the "adult" population behave like children and throw a fit if their morality as to the above is "challenged").
Now, put these cultures, for historical reasons, in charge of technology platforms...
All of these, and more, turn into some state duty (in turn imposed on corporations) to handle moderation and control content in behalf of adult audiences (e.g FCC rules, Hayes code, Apple's ban of political, sex, etc apps, and so on).
This leads to the child-ification of the adult population, where the "adults" in charge know better and protect the masses.
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There's more factors here, of course.
Linux phones are only for the most masochistic of techies.
Average Joe who is uninformed about tech will just assume you get something for your money, and by that measure, iPhones must be the best.
I chose Android which comes with it's own problems, but I prefer the way it works, and literally everything about Apple rubs me the wrong way.
>I could even see them announcing it at a launch. We should be concerned that the company has skipped its Black Mirror stage and jumped right into its Universal Paperclips endgame.
Well, what Apple did is squarely Black Mirror stage, nowhere near Universal Paperclips.
> Apple is in effect implementing anti-virus - for ideas.
Should we call that anti-dissent? Or thought police?