Apple's iOS takes a bite out of your freedom

by Zak Rogoff Contributions — Published on Dec 14, 2012 02:16 PM

Thinking about buying an Apple product? Think again. Here are five good reasons to boycott Apple's iOS. Read on, and learn how you can take action.

Apple, not you, controls what you can install on mobile devices

Apple corporate headquarters keeps a tight lock on the apps available for its mobile operating system (iOS), which is used on the iPhone, iPod and iPad. Software developers even have to pay a tax to Apple to publish their work in the App store.

Apple also prevents you from changing the operating system on the devices, so there's no way to escape the restrictions. If you try to change the software on your device, Apple's lawyers claim you are a criminal under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Apple is a patent bully

Apple continually amasses patents, simply so that it can threaten other developers with lawsuits if they create something vaguely similar to an Apple program, even by accident. Sometimes the company even uses its massive patent arsenal to threaten developers of programs that interact with its products. Apple's aggression chills innovation in the world of software (especially free software), because developers are scared of getting on Apple's bad side.

Apple uses DRM to prevent sharing and remixing media

All Apple products accept and welcome DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) that takes control of your music, movies and games away from you. Even though it's possible to download DRM-free music through iTunes, its streaming music and rental movies have DRM.

Apple's App Store only allows restrictively licensed software

As part of its micromanaging of the apps available for iOS, Apple censors all free software. Additionally, iTunes, which comes with desktop and mobile devices, refuses to play media in free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora.

Apple keeps users' personal data in a sketchy corporate database

Apple operates a network of services for managing contacts, calendars and correspondence across all its devices. This amounts to a huge vacuum sucking up users' personal information and storing it in a centralized server farms that are vulnerable to attacks. And since the software running on people's Apple devices is proprietary, no one except Apple can audit it and know exactly what it is sending to the mothership.

If you're using an iPhone, the situation is particularly bad: the devices exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.

Take action!

You can help by writing to Apple CEO Tim Cook (tcook@apple.com) and letting him know that you won't buy Apple devices because of their proprietary software and DRM. Please CC us on the email at campaigns@fsf.org. Check out an example email from the FSF's anti-DRM campaign, Defective by Design.

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