A screenshot from Bobble Rep.
Apple just announced it has overturned a decision it had made about a controversial iPhone and iPod Touch app. The app entitled Bobble Rep- 111th Congress Edition was in question due to political caricatures has now been approved for sale on iTunes. It is now on iTunes on sale for $1.
Bobble Rep listed every senator and congressman along with their office addresses and telephone numbers. Along with each politician, a political caricature was drawn to provide some humor into the app. Apple, wanting to play it safe had decided to take no chances and rejected approval of the app to stay out of the messy structure that is politics.
Now that the decision has been reversed the Bobble Rep has just today been released and will no doubt be a highly popular app. The app should never have been banned in the first place because it is a clear violation of the first amendment to ban it. The United States was founded on the principles of freedom of expression, and the app is not intended to insult the politicians so what’s the harm? Political Caricatures have been used since before this great country was formalized and if every major newspaper, magazine, and website in the country can use them, why can’t app developers?
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Comments
The first amendment, as well as the rest of the Constitution, applies only to the federal government, you twit! Commercial speech can be highly restricted by commercial entities, which is why you can be fired for disparaging your employer, even during your off hours.
Apple was well within its rights to restrict political speech on its development platform.
While stupid, Apple's behavior is not a violation of the first amendment -- that only applies to *government* restriction of speech.
I'm sorry I thought this was America.
By refusing this app... and then approving this app... Apple and the developer both made A LOT more money.
This entire article... and 100s like it... would have never have been written... and none of us would have even heard of this app.
It would have just blending in with the other 100,000 apps.
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