Steve Jobs: Keep Saying No!

Supreme Court voids law aimed at banning animal cruelty videos

The Supreme Court struck down a federal law Tuesday aimed at banning videos depicting graphic violence against animals, saying that it violates the constitutional right to free speech.

Chief Justice John J. Roberts Jr., writing for an eight-member majority, said the law was overly broad and not allowed by the First Amendment. He rejected the government’s argument that whether certain categories of speech deserve constitutional protection depends on balancing the value of the speech against its societal costs.

ADULT CONTENT AFTER THE BREAK.

Apple Rescinds Book Ban

Cartoonist: Apple Backs Down After Denying iPhone App

The cartoonist who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning this week says Apple has asked him to resubmit an iPhone app that it earlier rejected because it “ridicules public figures.”

Another fight over.

Which one is next?

Previously here:

Apple: Think What Now?
The Latest Outrageous Apple Book Rejection!

Apple: Think What Now?

Cassius Clay. At the height of the social unrest of the 1960s, he became a Muslim, changed his name to Muhammad Ali, and refused to be drafted to fight in Vietnam.

Rosa Parks. Refused to obey the city bus rules that blacks should sit in the back. Compounded her offense by refusing to relinquish her seat to a white man.

Apple used the bravery and struggles and dare-to-offend acts of these people in its ad campaigns.

Now Apple betrays their lives by engaging in book banning.

Hypocrites.

Update: Apple Rescinds Book Ban

The Latest Outrageous Apple Book Rejection!

Mark Fiore can win a Pulitzer Prize, but he can’t get his iPhone cartoon app past Apple’s satire police

In December, Apple rejected his iPhone app, NewsToons, because, as Apple put it, his satire “ridicules public figures,” a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, which bars any apps whose content in “Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.”

How many times must we go down this road, Apple?

Who is the person judging digital books for the App Store who has brain damage and keeps repeating this mistake?

Find that person. Fire that person!

Back on November 9th, 2009 at The eBook Test I posted about another political satire digital book that was rejected similarly: Another Day, Another DoubleDumb Apple Book Rejection!.

What is this going to be, Apple? A case-by-case firefight with you guys?

Are you to be the new Digital Taliban?

If you cannot understand the First Amendment, if you can’t understand it supercedes your narrow monetary interests, perhaps you might want to consider moving your Corporate headquarters to a place like Singapore or Malaysia, where you’d at least have the excuse of hiding behind their similarly-repressive governments.

I find it personally shocking that someone such as Steve Jobs — the epitome of a rebel — winds up on the wrong side of this issue over and over again.

You are entering a world where many precedents have been set by others in court cases to win our freedoms. Follow the example of Grove Press and others, Apple.

This is about books, Apple. Not you.

Stop being so ridiculous.

Is this the future you want –

Apple to be the first corporation to be cited as a book banner?

Do you really want me and my fellow writers to start agitating for that?

Update: Apple Rescinds Book Ban

Previously at Mike Cane 2008:

Apple Forfeits eBooks By Banning A Comic Book!
Apple And A Tale Of Two Bannings
Apple Bans ANOTHER Book From App Store!
Apple Approves Of Shooting Nurses In The Face!

Previously at The eBook Test:

Apple: Get The Hell Out Of Your Own Way!
Another Day, Another DoubleDumb Apple Book Rejection!
Apple’s Two-Faced Censorship At Work Again
A REAL Justification For Apple Censorship?

iAd Is The Coming Fall Of Apple

The Grand Machinations of Apple and Steve Jobs are about to run into the sharpest knife in town.

This knife has two blades.

One is called Real Life.

The other is called Reality.

And they cut without mercy.