[LINK] Steve Jobs: Great unwashed don't need PCs

[Richard Chirgwin]

Brendan Scott wrote:
> On 06/03/2010 01:19 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
>   
>> Ivan Trundle wrote:
>>     
>
> []
>
>   
>>> Apple makes choices about what software (not content) is available in the way that Nintendo does (for example). On the other hand, television companies make choices about what content I get to view, radio stations do the same with what they offer, newspapers too.
>>>   
>>>       
>> But isn't that what people say is good about the Internet? - That we 
>> can, if we wish, bypass the gatekeepers?
>>
>> Without wanting to sound like Senator Steve, what makes Apple a more fit 
>> and accountable gatekeeper than a government?
>>     
>
> This is a good question. 
> The thing is Apple's accountability comes from a different source (ie profit motive) and different constituency.  Not that I want to support Apple as a gatekeeper in any way, but I think the risks to access are different for corporate vs State censorship.  Corporates for example, shouldn't care if there's a back channel to what they're censoring.
>   
...unless the censorship is put in place to create an artificial 
scarcity and enforce a price; in which case the "back channel" is a 
great threat to the corporation, and will be pursued. The News Limited 
is a good example: if the iPad were to become the "world's default 
reader", and if some other publisher were to show decent success on the 
device, would you suppose that Apple could avoid the temptation to flog 
exclusivity to the highest bidder?


RC
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