Google developer advocate weighs in on Nazi themes, Market policing

By Ross Lovelace  | Aug 16 2010 | 3:04 pm  | 34 Comments

Nazi Theme

By now we should all be pretty familiar with Google's ability to police applications served through the Android Market. It might have been a little shocking the first time Google flexed its muscled and remotely wiped apps from phones. Since then, Google has pulled suspicious wallpaper apps (temporarily), the Easy Root application, and now (to no one's great distress) Nazi themes.

Hitler and swastikas tend to bring a lot of attention wherever they appear; here they have stirred the debate over whether Google should take a page out of Apple's book and review applications before they appear in the market. Tim Bray, Developer Advocate for Google, makes the argument in his personal blog that Google's swift action to remove the apps once they drew attention demonstrates that the system works. "Anyone can publish anything, but there’s a smooth well-oiled process for ripping the weeds out of the garden, once they get noticed," says he.

What do you think? Head over to read his full post and tell us your opinion. [ongoing by Tim Bray via Androinica] 

 

Ross Lovelace

Ross Lovelace

6(articles)

0(forum posts)
 
There are 34 comments

jeffreynew23 says:

I see that it's a paid app. Hmmm serves the idiots that bought it.

dacp283 says:

Gotta love censorship. I love how google will pull them from themarket butthey leave the hippy stoner pot leaf wallpappers and crap. Either pull all the crap or none of it but don't choose sides.

TheBronze says:

Difference being that the hippy stoners didn't try to wipe out all the jews in the world.... Subtle, I know.

CharlieL3 says:

Censorship allies only to Governmental bodies. Google is a private business, and their pulling of this app is not censorship.

NVR2ND says:

Pretty sure google didn't kill 6 million people. What a dumb fuck stupid ass comparison.

kdarling#wp says:

How many people you think die EVERY YEAR due to illegal substances AND legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco? If Hitler related stuff aren't allowed because of the atrocities he did, then all things related to marijuana shouldn't either. I do agree, Google is showing double standards indeed.

shizzy1427 says:

The people who die from illegal substances and alcohol know what theyre getting into and choose the do the drugs and drink the booze. the people that hitler killed didn't voluntarily walk into concentration camps knowing it was bad for them--they were forced. Terrible comparison.

Badgerboy says:

For starters compared to traffic accidents drug related deaths are miniscule, even comparative to the vast amount of people who take drugs the deaths are minimal. Should we ban skydiving because its dangerous or stop people from driving because of the vast amount of people that die every year? The majority of people who take drugs, alcohol or smoke know the dangers and still choose to take them. Equating this to a genocidal dictator is idiotic at best, anything that stands against facism and all those hate filled simpletons is fine by me.
Good on ya Google.

hydro says:

i never said google killed anyone. i said that what google is doing, is something that hitler and his goons would do. therefor, in a sens, google=hitler.

im just really sick and tired of all the politically correct pussies now a days, seriously.

Badgerboy says:

Good God man but your a grade A idiot, you simply cannot equate googles act to a genocidal maniac and racist or homophobic views. These things there is no excuse for it is not political correctness or going against freedom of speech its purely making a stand against the kind of simple minded nasty little idiots who think that anybody different to them should be derided.

Kudos to Google for keeping things free but still able to remove rubbish like that.

jeffreynew23 says:

@ lol hydro. Thanks for that. It was the most stupid shit i've heard in years!!!!

Laalipop says:

Uhhh... it would have been pulled anyway, there is a report as inappropriate button, community doesn't want it there, it'll get ripped. Period.

trooper54 says:

For every one who saying Google is wrong on this., realize that there is a clause in the Google's Android Market Content Policy for Developers, and Ii quote

" Developers should not upload or otherwise make available applications or any other materials that display (via text, images, video or other media) or link to:
•illegal content.
•invasions of personal privacy or violations of the right of publicity.
•content that interferes with the functioning of any services of other parties.
•promotions of hate or incitement of violence.
•violations of intellectual property rights, including patent, copyright (see Google's DMCA Policy), trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any party.
•any material not suitable for persons under 18.
•pornography, obscenity, nudity or sexual activity."

The nail that sticks out gets hammered. I'm sure eventually material that does not follows the requirements above will be dealt with.

adamweish says:

@hydro, you are what's wrong with america, ppl like you should be deported to north korea

hydro says:

im whats wrong with america? dude, i smoke my green and work 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, hows that wrong? youre just mad because youre one of those brainwashed pussies i was speaking of.

Kasracer says:

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, you have the offensive nature of Nazis (Adolf completely ruined a very cool name; good luck using it for at least another 200 years without someone being offended) and everyone already knows how horrible they were.

On the other hand, there are things, like the Nazi symbol, that actually mean noble things before the Nazis took it over.

This whole thing, at least appears, to be done in poor taste but on the other hand, if you don't want it you could just not buy it. Seems simple enough.

Now it coming up when searching for 'Jew'? That seemed a bit crazy.

kdarling#wp says:

When are we going to start seeing banning of Catholic related apps? After all, they did kill and torture thousands during the Inquisition. And speaking of Jews, didn't they ask the Roman's to crucify one of their own? Talk about being hypocrites.

likwidsoul says:

I personalty might not agree with all of the content that makes it on to the market but that is no reason to start pulling apps off the market. I'm atheist and I don't like all of the religious stuff on the market but guess what I don't download it. If your going to pull nazi stuff off the market then pull everything religious off because religion has killed more people than hitler ever could have in 10 lifetimes.

shizzy1427 says:

Why are people sticking up for Hitler and Nazis? Weird.

trooper54 says:

People your missing the point here.
See my above post
"•promotions of hate or incitement of violence."

No one here can argue that Nazi's both past or current, are not associated with "promotions of hate or incitement of violence", because they are.

Where as all of the other things you are listing such as various religions, or use of drugs, do not actively portray, nor advocate the above.

Like i said, the nail that sticks out gets hammered. Eventually all apps that do not adhere to the developer requirements will be removed from the market. Feel free to side load them all you want, but when it comes down to it the market is a store, its where Google makes its money, its not a place to voice your ideals, and they have the final say in the content that is distributed there. And i would say in general google's content filtering is more liberal than any other app market out there.

kdarling#wp says:

"No one here can argue that Nazi's both past or current, are not associated with "promotions of hate or incitement of violence", because they are.

Where as all of the other things you are listing such as various religions, or use of drugs, do not actively portray, nor advocate the above."

Religion has killed more people over HATE than Hitler could have done in 10 lifespans.

trooper54 says:

Your making the wrong comparison here.

But sure, in the end its Google's store, if you don't like what they are selling get it else where.

trooper54 says:

sorry double post

android alchemist says:

This shit is crazy, if you owned a company would. You want your name. Around anything. Negative. In today's. World one fuck up can cost you. I think Google did the right thing by pulling it

Tifoso says:

And the Catholic Church doesn't look nicely on homosexual activity and looks the other way when priests are raping children.

trooper54 says:

which is why any apps that associate the catholic church primarily with either of those two should be pulled as well.

People do not apply bible themes because they support the rape of children mind you.

Would you care to show that people who apply a Nazi theme are not doing so to purposefully and maliciously advocate their hate and racism? I'm all ears.

This applies to the "religion has killed more people" guy too, wherever you are.

Tifoso says:

Maybe they're not promoting raping children. But they could very well be promoting anti-homosexuality.

trooper54 says:

I agree with you, any app that actively promotes or stands for the elimination of homosexuals should be removed.

likwidsoul says:

Look all I'm saying is just because I don't like something doesn't mean other people don't have the right to put it on their phone. In addition a swastica a popular symbol for good luck and a few pictures of hitler who kind of looks like Charlie Chaplin doesn't promote hate. Don't be ignorant. Its a free country get over yourself. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people won't. Who cares what someone else puts on their phone its theirs and they should have the right to. You can buy a Nazi flag at corner store or Google Holocaust and see more horrible pictures than a Nazi theme. People are stupid but in the USA they have the right to be and last time I checked that's where Google is based.

Tifoso says:

Those Nazi apps are still there.

Faulk_Wulf says:

Let's take a minute here and screw our heads on.

Pro-Hitler / Anti-Censorship Group: You can still have your fill of Hilter/KKK/White-Power and any other politically incorrect wallpapers, etc. Just go to Google Image Search, find an image big enough, crop, set as background. I bet in combination with another app or two you could even making rotating wallpapers, collages, or anything you want. Google hasn't kept you from making a (in my opinion) ignorant declaration of your personal moral views. Calm. the fuck. down. This is also not censorship. Google is a private corporation and the Market is their invention. Just like Android Central can delete any posts for any reasons because its their forums, so can Google. How aggressively Google USES this ability will determine how much they alienate their consumer-base. If you don't like Google's policies, don't get apps from the Market. In reference to the drugs/pot thing. It's a subculture, and while the legality may be disputed on both sides of the fence, it is generally recognized as harmless (comparatively) as opposed to Hitler, Nazi's, World War II, etc. I mean people may HATE potheads and such, but they didn't you know, slaughter the Jews and stuff.

Anti-Hitler / Other Group: It was pulled. Drop it. Seriously. It's good people spoke up and reported it, but it's been pulled. Just let it fade into obscurity. It's troll bait.

Everyone: Chill the fuck out. I mean seriously, think about this, is someone having a Pro-Hitler app REALLY hurting you, personally? It may offend you, you may hate it, it might be personally offensive due to family history. But is it HURTING YOU? No. It is not. The ignorant will always be ignorant, the trolls will always troll. All the educated can do is try and put intelligent information out there and pick their fights wisely. If it doesn't harm you, then there's no reason to bitch. Google said "We don't want our Market to seem like it endorses this event." But that isn't the same as saying no one can/can't/should/shouldn't be making such an app. *shrug*

So everyone, just chill. It's just an app. You can only fight Hate with Education. Hate with Hate just makes more Hate. Chill, breathe, and please-- drop this topic. I think what Hitler did was obviously horrible, and while my family has no real connection to the events, I certainly don't support what he did. But-- if that's what someone wants on their phone, so be it. *shrug*

TL;DR - STFU, everyone, please. Educate, tolerate. Move on. Simple.

alexnaoumi says:

Hey guys. Relax. Its a paid app, no one will buy it...unless they r complete morons

dacp283 says:

You people are such hypocrites bitching about hitler apps. Guess what he's dead if people want to follow in his hatred you have noone to blame but yourself...why? Because its you douche bags whining about freedom of expression and speech and seperation of church and state that make it possible. Thanks to the new America and its liberal cry baby society people are allowed to express themselves in such a manner. America would be so much better off if people were not given the right to free speech and expression unless you've served honorably in the military.

dacp283 says:

Im an equal opportunity hater i dislike everyone lol.