After 5 rejections, Apple accepts app that tracks US drone strikes - Polidicks

[url]http://mashable.com/2014/02/07/apple-app-tracks-drone-strikes/#:eyJzIjoidCIsImkiOiJfdmczenpka2FpcDA1dWNxZyJ9[/url] [quote]Persistence, it turns out, does pay off. After rejecting it five times, Apple has finally approved an app that tracks every U.S. drone strike and sends a push notification to users every time a flying robot carries out a deadly mission around the world. Josh Begley, the data artist and developer who made the app, finally got through Apple's careful approval process on Friday, more than a year and a half after the first rejection by the company's App Review Team. It took persistence, but it took also some semantic trickery. Begley got the app approved because he removed the word "drone" from the name of the app and from its description. For the first three attempts, it was called Drones+, then Dronestream for the last two. This latest, successful time, it's called Metadata+, and Begley initially submitted it with no content or functionality, adding the archive of strikes later. With those simple gimmicks, the app got the green light from Apple, which didn't raise any qualms about it.[/quote]

Disgusting.

Cool now when I get one of these notifications I can fall to my knees with a thousand yard stare pretending like I actually care about innocent people dying.

...how do they get that information?

Android pls

[QUOTE=KennyAwsum;43848207]Disgusting.[/QUOTE] i know just how many drone strikes has america made that an app is needed to track them?

[QUOTE=A_Pigeon;43848358]i know just how many drone strikes has america made that an app is needed to track them?[/QUOTE] "shit where did I put my bomb" *checks app* "oh right it killed a dozen children lol silly me"

Honestly, I feel like this is a great role-reversal between the people and the government. They're watching our every move with the whole NSA crap, and now we get to see whenever they do something legitimately bad.

^ I totally agree. Given how much transparency we don't have, we should use any bit we do have.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;43848799]I really hope you're referring to drone strikes and not the app.[/QUOTE] Or Apple rejecting it 5 times

[QUOTE=Tmaxx;43848261]...how do they get that information?[/QUOTE] Dead Childen API

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;43848799]I really hope you're referring to drone strikes and not the app.[/QUOTE] i think it was meant to be apple's behaviour

What makes me the most curious is how they get the drone data.

[QUOTE=Chubbles;43848410]Honestly, I feel like this is a great role-reversal between the people and the government. They're watching our every move with the whole NSA crap, and now we get to see whenever they do something legitimately bad.[/QUOTE] If the NSA is half as good as they probably are, they won't let you see the worst shit the drones do.

Why does the app look like the messaging application? "hey girlfriend messaged, something about a us drone strike?" [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Nr8QgTc.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;43849200][url]http://dronestre.am/[/url] - Data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.[/QUOTE] Thing is, that sounds fancy, but if you look at the twitter feed [URL="https://twitter.com/dronestream"]@dronestream[/URL] (same website, same guy) it appears to based entirely on articles from news sites, which report drone strikes. I mean it's still quite cool, and a nice idea, but clearly it's not reporting all of the actual drone strikes that happen, that being information no doubt closely guarded by the US military.

New war strategic game for Androids and Apple devices. Drone war a game where you control real life drone strikes in afghan regions from your mobile phone where your goal is to get as many KIA as possible and compete against family and friends, remember strikes on US troops will be rejected but civilian casualties are acceptable. Download it now on Google play or App store

[QUOTE=KennyAwsum;43848207]Disgusting.[/QUOTE] the disgusting thing is that America is doing it.

It doesn't seem to differentiate between proper targets and civilians, though.

[QUOTE=Incoming.;43855151]It doesn't seem to differentiate between proper targets and civilians, though.[/QUOTE] Since when do america care of the difference?

[QUOTE=Incoming.;43855151]It doesn't seem to differentiate between proper targets and civilians, though.[/QUOTE] Probably because most of the time not even the people nearby know. Opposing force likes to keep day jobs. It is hard to figure out how justified many of these attacks are.

[QUOTE=Capnscarlet;43850164]Thing is, that sounds fancy, but if you look at the twitter feed [URL="https://twitter.com/dronestream"]@dronestream[/URL] (same website, same guy) it appears to based entirely on articles from news sites, which report drone strikes. I mean it's still quite cool, and a nice idea, but clearly it's not reporting all of the actual drone strikes that happen, that being information no doubt closely guarded by the US military.[/QUOTE] Not to mention that the guy who runs the website is the same guy who runs the app.

[QUOTE=Neddy;43855219]Since when do america care of the difference?[/QUOTE] you do is many english? america think maybe do care, but time time again is not what happen??? phone???

[QUOTE=endorphinsam;43856079]you do is many english? america think maybe do care, but time time again is not what happen??? phone???[/QUOTE] The dude probably comes from a country where English isn't the primary language, and he used "do" instead of "does". He didn't babble like you seem to think. This post was completely unnecessary. [editline]10th February 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Handsome Matt;43849200][url]http://dronestre.am/[/url] - Data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.[/QUOTE] I should make one of those "It has been X days since" sites for drone strikes

The major problem I see with drone strikes is that it makes is entirely too easy to dehumanize targets to the operator. At least in planes you are somewhat near the target and see the munitions going off by visuals. Here the only sense of what you're doing comes from a small laptop screen.

[QUOTE=Kyle902;43856274]The major problem I see with drone strikes is that it makes is entirely too easy to dehumanize targets to the operator. At least in planes you are somewhat near the target and see the munitions going off by visuals. Here the only sense of what you're doing comes from a small laptop screen.[/QUOTE]They have to sit and watch the results as well. I remember the story of a drone operator being forced to watch something like an entire truck full of soldiers burning and such after an explosion. And similarly, they have to stick around and watch after they strike something. Which is why drone pilots show the same incidence rate of PTSD as normal pilots.

[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;43856341]They have to sit and watch the results as well. I remember the story of a drone operator being forced to watch something like an entire truck full of soldiers burning and such after an explosion. And similarly, they have to stick around and watch after they strike something. Which is why drone pilots show the same incidence rate of PTSD as normal pilots.[/QUOTE] Do they make them sit and watch so that they know what they've done? That's cruel unto itself. It doesn't absolve the operators by means of some kind of karmic justice or something, and I know the drone strikes themselves are more deplorable acts, but is there an actual function to making people do that?

[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;43856380]Do they make them sit and watch so that they know what they've done? That's cruel unto itself. It doesn't absolve the operators by means of some kind of karmic justice or something, and I know the drone strikes themselves are more deplorable acts, but is there an actual function to making people do that?[/QUOTE]No, they're just not allowed to leave or do anything. They cannot move the drone without orders, they can't leave the trailers, they have to sit in, they can do literally nothing but watch the screen until they are given an order. [editline]10th February 2014[/editline] And exactly what karmic justice are they due? What makes them inherently more deplorable? The fact civilians get killed by drone strike? Yeah, that's horrible, but civilian casualties have always been an unfortunate result of war. Drones aren't responsible for it and at the worst, they haven't made the problem bigger and at best they've helped to reduce it. Is it any better for a normal plane to fly overhead and drop a bomb on a target, only to find out later their information was bad and instead of an insurgent compound they hit a school? Or is it better for a soldier helping check a village to accidentally kill some farmer because the farmer made a sudden movement and the soldier had to make a reflex decision on the basis that he might be the one killed?

"data artist and developer" What kind of shitty buzzword is that. The last thing you want people making creative changes to is data. "this is all wrong" "it just felt better that way man"

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;43856488]"data artist and developer" What kind of shitty buzzword is that. The last thing you want people making creative changes to is data. "this is all wrong" "it just felt better that way man"[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure he is just highlighting the work he puts into making data more accessible. Visualization of data, in an artistic way.