The company on Tuesday was approved for a patent for technology that would prevent people from sending or receiving text messages with objectionable content. Apple applied for a patent in 2008 that would allow for the censorship of text messages. Messages containing information deemed inappropriate would be altered or removed.
Find the patent here, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7814163.html. Via Apple, either "a message will be blocked (incoming or outgoing) if the message includes forbidden content," or, "the objectionable content is removed from the message prior to transmission or as part of the receiving process." WOW!
Who defines objectionable? I am assuming this will be primarily used by parents, schools, the government, China (ha ha ha). Apple lost my business. I know that we are censored everyday but really? Censorship is a dark path to tread, a missed step or stumble and we are jailing people for speaking out against tyranny, I think this falls into the first definition found on dictionary.com , 1. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority. Now, in no way am I saying that the actions of a true tyrant are in anyway comparable to the censorship of text messages, but I am saying that all of the tyrants in the world are tyrants for many reasons, one of which is that they censor others.
Although one can clearly not say that Apple's actions are in anyway tyrannical, they do remind me to post the following:
The wife of the nobel peace prize recipient was disappeared by the Chinese police. Supposedly she was taken to the jail where her husband is kept, excuse me, serving an 11-year sentence for subversion in order to tell him he won. "Liu, the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel peace prize, is a writer, 54, imprisoned since December after authoring Charter 08, a manifesto signed by thousands seeking greater democratic rights. His selection as this year's winner has enraged the government, which called him as a criminal and said the award was a violation of Nobel ideals and a discredit to the peace prize." From http://www.smh.com.au/world/mystery-over-peace-prize-winners-wife-20101010-16dzo.html
I think there is built in censorship already in the phone because the predictive texting feature won't allow you use so-called naughty words using the 10 key touch and you have to take the time to toggle back to selecting individual letters.
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