September 18, 2013

Canadian app store censors "Redskins"

Adrienne Keene summarizes another development in the "Redskins" controversy for us:

Canadian iTunes App Store Censors the Word RedSk*n

See that picture above? That’s what Ian Campeau of A Tribe Called Red sees when he searches for the word “RedSk*n” (without the asterisk) in the Canadian iphone app store. I’ve been searching online to see if there was any announcement accompanying this change, any statement about why or how this happened or who was responsible, and I’ve got nothing. But I hope we can agree that this is HUGE. It might seem like something minor or purely symbolic, but this is Apple we’re talking about.

Ogoki Learning Systems, a Native App-development company, posted about the switch on their site yesterday, citing section 19 of The Apple Developer Terms and Conditions, which states:19. Religion, culture, and ethnicity

19.1. Apps containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected
And from Ogoki itself:

Redskins Word Banned from iTunes Apple Inc.We as First Nation App developers applaud Apple Inc. in taking a stand and recognizing that Native Americans and First Nation people are not “Redskins.” We are a distinct people with the same rights as we afford to every man woman and child who set foot on this earth.

1 comment:

dmarks said...

I think a better approach would be to add a disclaimer, information.

This goes in the direction of censorship, as it is done. I'd rather see information added, rather than subtracted.