“The removal of the app from the Apple app store is the latest in a string of high profile companies who have tried to distance themselves from Wikileaks,” Electronista reports. “Apple will have weighed the decision to remove the app against a possible backlash from Wikileaks hacktivists who have already launched web attacks on the Mastercard and Visa websites.”
Read more in the full article here.
Alexia Tsotsis reports for TechCrunch, “In the past couple of weeks corporate biggies Amazon, PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and Bank of America have all tried to disassociate themselves in one way or another from WikiLeaks. If this isn’t some kind of glitch, Apple has plenty company.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Rumor has it that the size of Assange’s ego was beginning to impact iOS devices’ battery life.
Good job Apple!
Loose lips sink ships
Oh no! Now Apple will face the unbridled wrath of the Wiki hackers who took down Mastercard.com and…
…pranked some fax machines. (http://bit.ly/dK4Z4A) Really? Really?
Way to be lame Apple.
@MacAdvocate
Whether there are thousands of messages or only one, attacking the messenger is the best strategy for scuttling the message (and all of its nasty little implications).
Always has been, always will be.
Apple probably got one of those nasty letters from our government saying they were committing treason or some other bullshit if they allowed users to see Wikileaks documents. We gotta keep the public ignorant of government abuses you know.
The gene is out of the bottle. What we have learned from the Wikileaks, more then news has been confirmation of what we already knew. The inner workings of the Empire.
Who’s Gene and what’s he doing in that bottle
Good! Glad to see Apple refusing to support that garbage.
To Assange no means yes. In Sweden and in all other enlightened countries it’s sexual assault.
Great job Apple. What Ahole profits from disclosing documents illegally gotten.
I kept expecting something along the lines of what Woodward and Bernstein revealed. Instead all we got was facts about what we already knew about how things work. It seems that Mr. Assange has an agenda against the US. You think we’re bad? How about some leaks about what goes on in the UAE or Russia, or Italy, or Brasil, or anywhere else?
Even if wikileaks does some good, it is certainly controversial, potentially damaging to national security, and illegal. Yeah, distancing is the right move.
I have to say, it is shocking to see how often high officials can be thickheaded fools.
It’s the 1930’s all over again. Only this time the rise of the right wing radicals is happening the US not in Germany. Fifteen years from now, everyone will be asking, “How did such hateful, crazy people end up in charge of a country.”
It’s funny how no one seems too interested in the validity of anything wiki leaks published. Just the fact that “someone” labeled it “Top Secret”. Nixon had labeled the existence of the “Plummers” Top Secret as well. Why, because he was using them to break the law.
How about we stop shooting the Wiki Leaks messenger and start paying attention to the message. Our government has become an agency of idiots who’s only goal is to increase their own power while shutting up anyone who cares to voice a differing opinion.
I’ve heard the person was saying that $1 was being donated. But if you see section 21 of the apple store guide lines, you see how donations are suppose to be handled. http://images.worldofapple.com/appstoreguidelines_9910.pdf Donations can only be collected with free apps, and only in certain ways. Most likely since Apple cannot confirm that $1 is being donated like the app submitter was saying to drive up sales, so it got pulled.
I appreciate what Wikileaks is trying to do. I don’t appreciate all the whining and chest-pounding about the corporate powers are conspiring to take it down. Well, duh! I mean, what did you expect? You fight power, power’s going to fight back. If Wikileaks is going to depend on the current power infrastructure (ISPs, banks, etc.) to keep them up and running, it’s hopeless for them.
——RM
@brando Except that only applies to in app donations. The developer can choose to do what he wants with his money donations or not.
@jonathan: From what I have heard he was soliciting sales of the app by saying he was donating $1 either on the app website or in the description. So Apple sees this as a donation app, and Apple cannot verify that a donation is happening, so they pulled it. Otherwise, be ready for all the “I donate” apps that don’t donate at all. Let one “I donate” app in, you must let all of them in.
@chaz
“Great job Apple. What Ahole profits from disclosing documents illegally gotten.”
Um, Gawker.com?
Hmm a bit too many perfectly acceptable apps have been removed from the app store as of late, it’s not this specific case that bothers me…it’s the “general trend”, sharpen up will ya Apple!
I’m disappointed. I think this is bad news for freedom.
I understand that Apple is a business, and has to protect its business interests. I’m sure the pressure on Apple was immense.
But for some reason I expected a stronger stance from Apple, in favour of unfettered access to information concerning the actions of our elected officials – our elected, taxpayer-funded, public officials.
Naive idealism on my part, I guess.
I LOVE Apple but I don’t agree with this decision. The truth is the truth no matter who says it. I think Apple should’ve let the app roll and let us users to decide whether we want to download it or not. Anyway, I’ll just have to make it an internet app from Safari
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All the information is still available all over the internet (which you can get on Apple devices)….so how are they blocking it? They just shut down an app that just gathered freely available information from the internet, then charged money for it under the guise of donations…good for Apple
Good riddance to Julian Asshat and Wackyleaks. Überdoofus.