ICEBlock, an iOS Exclusive
John Gruber (Mastodon, Hacker News):
The ICEBlock app is interesting in and of itself (and from my tire-kicking test drive, appears to be a well-crafted and designed app), as will be Apple’s response if (when?) the Trump administration takes offense to the app’s existence. Back in 2019, kowtowing to tacit demands from China, Apple removed from the App Store an app called HKmap.live which helped pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong know the location of police and protest activity. The app broke no Hong Kong laws, but scared the thin-skinned skittish lickspittles in the Chinese Communist Party.
Apple first rejected HKmap.live, on the grounds that it “allowed users to evade law enforcement.” That seems to be pretty much what ICEBlock is meant to do, too. I don’t think there was ever a written rule about this, however. The closest I see is rule 1.4.4, which says that “Apps may only display DUI checkpoints that are published by law enforcement agencies[…].”
HKmap argued that the app could be used for evading law enforcement, but that it was really to help people “note locations” and that it wasn’t for the user to avoid police but to avoid dangerous situations caused by other people clashing with police.
I don’t like these types of arguments. You built a hammer, and it could be used to build a house or to vandalize, and there’s a certain ratio of use (assuming that could be calculated) where it becomes bannable?
Anyway, ICEBlock is saying something similar. Officially, it’s not for evading ICE but to “stay informed” and to help report “civil rights abuses.”
Apple ended up approving HKmap.live without citing why it changed its mind. Speculation at the time was that the initial reviewer was just wrong.
But then, a few weeks later, Apple removed HKmap.live from the App Store, saying that it had “endangered law enforcement and residents.” Again, this is a terrible place to be as a developer: it’s not enough to follow the local laws and the written guidelines from Apple, but your app’s fate hinges on whether Apple determines that it endangers people? Of course, there was no attempt to balance this against the number of people it protected. But the real reason was probably political pressure, anyway.
It will be interesting to see what Apple does here. Presumably, if Congress or certain states passed a targeted law—e.g. radar detectors are commonly restricted and outright illegal in Virginia and DC—Apple would follow it. But so far all I’ve seen are vague claims from the administration that the app is already illegal—I guess on the grounds that it constitutes abetting/harboring—and it’s unclear how much Apple has been pressured.
One defense from Apple regarding HKmap.live, however, was that the iOS app was a thin wrapper around the website, and website remained fully functional and could be saved to an iPhone user’s home screen.
This always seemed to me like a legal case decided on a procedural issue to avoid ruling on the merits.
To deliver push notifications on Android, the developers claim they would need to maintain a database of device IDs, create a user account system to manage those device IDs, and all of that server-stored data would be susceptible to law enforcement subpoenas and pro-ICE red hat hackers. […] Only iOS supports the security and privacy features for ICEBlock to offer what it does, the way it does.
But doesn’t the database still exist with iOS, and it could just be subpoenaed from Apple? Apple doesn’t want to break the security of its own devices, but it’s always cooperated with law enforcement to share cloud data that it does have.
Previously:
- Apple in China
- Apple Removes Messaging Apps From Chinese App Store
- AirDrop “Everyone” Limit in China
- HKmap Live Removed From the App Store
- HKmap Live Rejected From the App Store
- Apple Pulls VPN Apps From China App Store
- Apple Removes New York Times Apps From Chinese App Store
13 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
This is the biggest problem with Apple's AppStore: it can be used as a way to suppress freedom.
For example, could you imagine the outcome for PGP had Zimmerman's software been limited to the App Store model?
Apple always prohibited apps that let you know where DUI checkpoints are. As far as I know I they were not compelled by law enforcement to have that policy (I could be wrong about that though but I believe there are DUI checkpoint finder websites out there). This is kind of the same thing?
The name of the app is ice block. "Block" is in the title. it's clear that the target audience is people trying to evade law enforcement. Regardless of anyone's stance as it relates to the illegal immigration debate I don't think anyone is using the "ICEBlock" app just to know where ICE is, just to jot it down.
Would this even be an argument if there was a CopBlock app where people could report the location of police officers, particularly useful for gang members to avoid the police in inner cities?
I mean whether the app's existence is illegal? Probably not but what do I know about the law? Its presence in the App Store does imply Apple's endorsement, somewhat. So that's a problem for Apple. They've removed apps that are far less controversial than this.
>This is the biggest problem with Apple's AppStore: it can be used as a way to suppress freedom.
By locking down the platform and making everything go through the App Store they put themselves in the middle of political arguments they otherwise would avoid. So yea. They don't want to piss off "Daddy Trump" and they also don't want to piss off liberal tech people like Gruber.
> Would this even be an argument if there was a CopBlock app where people could report the location of police officers, particularly useful for gang members to avoid the police in inner cities?
Or for people who want to target said cops or ICE officers with violence.
> But doesn’t the database still exist with iOS, and it could just be subpoenaed from Apple?
Yes. Someone has to know who the push notification is going to and for iOS I have to assume it's Apple. iOS is "privacy-preserving" in the sense that it hides your identity from the notifier, but the threat here is the government, not the developers of ICEBlock.
I'm not deeply familiar with the tech, but this seems like the problem that Tor was designed to solve. It seems likely to me that it would be easier to integrate Tor-based notifications into Android than iOS for a bunch of reasons.
A bit confused about why this was even developed as an iOS app in the first place. Surely this would make more sense on the web?
@Tom: I mean, supporting people targeting law enforcement officers, or helping people evade those officers, while they are performing their lawful duties is certainly a choice.
There’s a misapprehension here. The app tracks folks wearing masks and not identifying as law enforcement personnel. Surely if any legitimate government employee is accidentally tracked in the app they can present a photo ID and be removed.
"helping people evade those officers, while they are performing their lawful duties is certainly a choice."
You'd make the exact opposite argument under different circumstances.
@pirijan why indeed.
Apparently because Apple has successfully brainwashed the world and made everyone forget that the web exists
And yeah Apple does put itself in the middle of everything politically by choosing to be the only way to distribute software on iOS. Again, a choice they made and continue to make, not just something that happened to them they are forced to deal with.
