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Comment by rpledge | Hacker News Reader

Exactly... People should vote with their wallet. Why should Apple be forced to conform to what the EFF thinks is right? If enough people cared about these issues and stopped buying Apple would take notice, but until that happens this is all noise few will hear.

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Well, the reason groups like the EFF are important is because they're there to raise the issue before it becomes a problem. Sometimes people don't realize how serious a problem is until it bites them in the ass, like the MyFrame developer that defended Apple's approval process up until the point that his app got arbitrarily rejected.[1]

The point of watchdog groups like the EFF is to make some noise and get people to realize they should care about having alternatives.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1394958

I think the EFF has bigger battles to fight: net neutrality, fair use, freedom of speech, etc...

And preemptive to the reply I'll get: apple rejecting an app doesn't infringe on free speech anymore than not getting your letter printed in the NY times.

I don't see how those fights preclude the EFF from taking a position on this. It's not like they're litigating against Apple or anything; they're merely pointing out an example of what is essentially a major part of their core mission - "software lock-in is bad."

Who said anything about forcing Apple to do anything? The blog post wasn't talking about suing Apple or asking the government to step in. It was merely criticizing a system they find slimy and contrary to the interests of Apple's customers.

It isn't like Apple is going out of their way to tell potential customers "people are out there writing software that you would like to have on your phone, but we aren't going to let you have it".

Why shouldn't the EFF be free to criticize whoever they want?

It's quite simple -- you can choose not to read blog posts that are clearly going to be critical of the app store.

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