Apple says its decision to remove ICEBlock and similar platforms from the app store last year was prompted by concerns — including those raised by the Trump administration — about agent safety following a fatal shooting that left two detainees dead at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
Apple’s explanation came in a July letter to Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, who earlier this year launched an investigation into the Justice Department’s role in the removal of the apps from Apple’s and Google’s app stores and the impact on constitutionally protected speech. The letter has not previously been reported. […]
Ultimately, Apple determined ICE tracking apps violated its guidelines because they provided “precise location information about ICE officers (and, as a result, other individuals who may be in proximity to ICE agents, such as protestors or detainees), thus providing a potential roadmap for targeted violence and creating a significant risk of harm,” the company said in its letter.
For some reason, the CNN article does not point to either Congressman Raskin’s press release or to the letter he sent to Apple (PDF), both of which are worth reading. Additionally, Apple’s letter hasn’t been published by either Congressman Raskin or CNN (and certainly not by Apple), so it’s impossible to verify Apple’s response. If CNN and Duffy have a copy of the letter (and Duffy’s reporting suggests they do), I don’t understand why they haven’t released it.
Given what is being reported, and what’s in the Congressman’s reply, Apple’s response doesn’t hold much water. As Congressman Raskin notes, this administration has a demonstrated “pattern of lying about facts and evidence.” Relying on the administration’s word is either naïve or bullshit, and Apple is anything but naïve. ICEBlock was as much of a threat to ICE officers as Apple Maps and Google Maps. Both, naturally, remain available.
Apple’s reason for pulling the app at the time was “objectionable content.” It seems obvious that Apple used that as a convenient excuse to remove an app because of direct pressure from the government out of a fear of retaliation.
Either that, or Apple was happy to remove an app that protected its customers from violent attacks and believes it’s perfectly acceptable to curtail a developer’s First Amendment rights.
Congressman Raskin asks Apple to—
… conduct your own independent review of the decision to remove those apps to ascertain if they do, in fact, violate your terms of service—and please notify me when that review begins and concludes.
I think it’s time to call Tim Cook (and John Ternus) into Congress.