petition
Latest
AppGratis petition gathers hundreds of thousands of supporters
Last week, TUAW ran several stories about app-discovery and deals app AppGratis being pulled from the iOS App Store for alleged violations of Apple's developer guidelines. Now the developer is gathering online signatures to a petition in hopes that they can sway Apple to reconsider its ban of AppGratis. As of about 2 PM EDT today, the company had grabbed over 622,000 emails of support and the number is growing rapidly. Whether or not Apple will respond to the outside pressure is another matter; AppGratis reports that the company refuses to talk to them. If you're one of the over 12 million AppGratis users and would like to see the app set free, visit save.appgratis.com to add your voice to the petition.
White House responds to petition: unlocking phones should be legalized
The recent ruling that effectively bans third-party phone unlocking has ruffled more than a few feathers, and the people have spoken with their electronic signatures -- 114,322 of them, to be exact. Now the petition to the White House, which asks that DMCA protection of phone unlockers be reconsidered, has finally received an official response, and it appears that it's for the positive. The author of the letter is R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation and Privacy. "The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties," Edelman writes. All told, the response matches that of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which wrote a letter to the Librarian of Congress in support of extending the exemption last year. So what does this mean for us? Edelman states: "The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation." We're not going to see immediate change, but it appears that a chain of events is now in motion in which the FCC and Congress potentially play a huge role. We're not out of the woods yet, but it's relieving to see such a positive response -- along with a call to action -- from the government. Read the response in its entirety below.
Over 100,000 petition for PC port of Grand Theft Auto 5
The online petition to bring GTA 5 to the PC has amassed many more signatures. Just two days ago the petition had 41,000 signatures and today has exceeded 100,000. The new goal is to get 150,000 people on board.Rockstar has yet to comment on the petition and has only confirmed GTA 5 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 so far. Count us among those wishing for a PC port, because GTA IV had some of the most inventive mods around.
Over 41,000 petition for Grand Theft Auto 5 PC port
Over 41,000 gamers have signed an online petition requesting a PC version of next year's open-world crime-caper sim, Grand Theft Auto 5.Rockstar has said that GTA 5 won't target next-generation consoles, pegging the latest in the iconic series for PS3 and Xbox 360 only – for now, anyway. Rockstar has a history of issuing PC ports a few months after console launch (save for Red Dead Redemption) so perhaps this petition will seem pre-emptive in the long run.Grand Theft Auto 5 is currently slated to launch during Spring 2013.
City of Heroes fans rally to try to save the game
It goes without saying that City of Heroes fans are no strangers to the idea of a heroic effort. Now they face the greatest possible challenge of the game's existence: try to prevent the impending shutdown. A petition has been formed asking for a stay of execution, and fans are convening at a message board dedicated to averting the closure of the industry's first superheroic MMO. The boards contain a number of suggestions and calls for respectful action to make it clear to NCsoft's management how much the game has meant to the players. The staff of Paragon Studios is just as invested, however. A recent message in-game has confirmed that management is in talks with both NCsoft and investors. Community manager Andy Belford has stressed that these are just talks at the moment and that players shouldn't jump to conclusions. Regardless of the final outcome, it's clear that the game's fanbase will not let the game go quietly, which might be a more earnest show of what the game has meant to players than anything else.
Mass Effect moaners kinda get their own way as people power strikes again
SPOILERS. Who can't name a beloved TV series that didn't end the way you wanted? BSG? Lost? Sapphire and Steel? Blake's Seven? Quantum Leap? The Sopranos? All of which ended either with tear-inducing bum-notes or confusing conclusions that caused furious head scratching. Despite that, the traditional reaction is to say "Well, I didn't enjoy that, but I respect the writer's artistic decision." Not so for gamers who felt short-changed by the intentionally devastating conclusion to Mass Effect 3. Fans of the game poured their outrage online, developer BioWare saying that the feedback it had received was "incredibly painful." A fan campaign that raised $80,000 in under a fortnight for Child's Play was enough to make the team behind the title concede defeat against the geo-political disruptor that is the internet with a cause. The company is now devoting all of its efforts to producing an "extended cut" DLC for the summer, but fans expecting a fourth ending where they can watch Commander Shepard on a sun-lounger, margarita in hand had better start complaining now -- the new content will only offer more depth and an extended epilogue to those tragic scenes you've already witnessed. SPOILERS END
Protesters claim credit for Apple's January announcement of FLA inspections
Protest groups Change.org and SumOfUs.org recently delivered boxes containing 250,000 petition signatures to the Grand Central Terminal Apple Store, demanding that Apple investigate and improve worker conditions in Chinese factories. Now that inspections have begun, those same groups are claiming victory. "This new announcement shows the pressure is getting to Apple," says Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Executive Director of SumOfUs.org. There's just one problem: Apple's announcement isn't new. Apple announced its partnership with the Fair Labor Association on January 13, nearly a month before Change.org and SumOfUs.org delivered their signatures. In the same press release erroneously taking credit for Apple's partnership with the FLA, SumOfUs.org criticises the group as "a business-funded group with a long track record of serving as a corporate mouthpiece, not an effective advocate for workers." The New York Times' report on the FLA is hardly as scathing, though it has found that "many labor advocates say its efforts have barely made a dent in improving working conditions." AppleInsider has criticised both groups for what it calls "slacktivism," "retroactive activism," and "empowering social change after the fact," since Change.org and SumOfUs.org are claiming credit for actions Apple took long before either group's petitions even began. In fact, most of the "worker abuses" cited in these petitions are sourced from Apple's own annually-released Supplier Responsibility Report. Jim Dalrymple of The Loop has classified the groups' actions as "nothing more than a publicity stunt." "If these protesters are really concerned about the workers in China, why not deliver that petition to the other companies that manufacture products at Foxconn. Where is the press release saying they were going to visit HP, Dell, Microsoft and others?" Dalrymple asks. "I emailed the PR guy Brett Abrams yesterday and asked him that. No response." Change.org and SumOfUs.org's petitions have not accomplished anything that Apple wasn't already planning to do on its own. The issue the groups have raised is a serious one, but claiming credit for actions Apple took over a month ago seriously damages their credibility. Meanwhile, in a conference with Goldman Sachs, Tim Cook detailed the steps Apple is taking to improve conditions at its suppliers' factories (many thanks to Mac Rumors for its detailed transcription). "We think the use of underaged labor is abhorrent. It's extremely rare in our supply chain, but our top priority is to eliminate it totally. We've done that with our final assembly and we're now working with vendors farther down in the supply chain," Cook said. "If we find a supplier that intentionally hires underage labor, it's a firing offense." On workplace safety: "We don't let anyone cut corners on safety. If there is a problem on safety, we seek out the foremost experts and set a new standard and apply that to the entire supply chain. We focus on the details. If there is a fire extinguisher missing from a cafeteria, that facility doesn't pass inspection until that fire extinguisher is in place." Beginning in January, Apple began collecting weekly data on over half a million workers in its supply chain, with specific focus on overtime. Apple sets a 60 hour/week cap on supplier workers' overtime hours, and reports indicate its suppliers already have 84 percent compliance. Apple's goal on this is 100 percent. Thus far Apple has been issuing annual Supplier Responsibility Reports, but Apple will now supply those reports on a monthly basis and release them on its website. No other manufacturer has committed to that level of transparency in its suppliers' working conditions. By American standards, especially among those who have never set foot in a factory and are unfamiliar with the gruelling pace, poor working conditions, and worker abuses present in even the best and most tightly-regulated of factories, the conditions at Foxconn may indeed sound harsh. But real changes or improvements in those working conditions are not going to come from signing an online petition and tamely delivering a box of signatures to a handful of retail outlets. The only way conditions at Foxconn have any chance at improving is if companies like Apple take steps to put pressure on their suppliers, and Apple has already done exactly that -- well before anyone outside the company asked it to. In fact, Apple has taken far greater strides in this area than any other consumer electronics manufacturer, so the continued focus on Apple not only seems illogical, it also seems counterproductive. Other consumer electronics companies must be looking at the situation, where Apple's unprecedented transparency about its suppliers has backfired into a PR nightmare, and Sony/Dell/HP/etc. must be saying to themselves that maintaining the silent status quo is better for them in the long run. This is the third year in a row where, like clockwork, Apple's release of its Supplier Responsibility Report has been followed by a media firestorm and a laser-like focus on Apple to the exclusion of every other Foxconn client. With Apple now committed to releasing these reports monthly, the danger now is that the linkbaiting and Apple-focused controversy will never end. As long as every company except Apple keeps getting a free pass, no real improvements at Foxconn (or anywhere else) are going to happen.
Apple Store employees accept petitions from protesters
Slightly over a dozen protesters from Change.org and SumofUS delivered a petition signed by more than 250,000 people to the Grand Central Terminal Apple Store today. Both organizations are urging Apple to improve working conditions at factories run by its overseas suppliers, particularly Foxconn's massive facility in China. CNET reports the event was relatively low-key -- there were more people present covering the event for the media than the number of protesters who showed up -- and Apple Store employees seemed well-prepared when they accepted the big box of signatures. The group claims the same petition will be delivered to Apple's San Francisco store later today as one part of a global action also involving stores in Bangalore, London, and Sydney. At press time, it was unclear if the protesters were wearing clothing manufactured in the USA, or if they plan similar protests at Best Buys, Walmarts, Gamestops, or the headquarters of Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, HP, Dell, or any of the other retail outlets and consumer electronics companies who also heavily employ Chinese labor to build their products.
Dark Souls admin suggests PC could happen with a petition
Petitions come and petitions go, but when an employee of Namco Bandai suggests Dark Souls could get ported to PC with a few thousand signatures, we take notice. Administrator shoupinou responded to a request for a PC version of Dark Souls with the following advice: "There is always possibilities to have games adapted on PC and the good news is that Dark Souls is not a 100% typical Console game so the adaptation is possible. Now to make things happen, let's say the demand has to be properly done. someone to make a successful petition?" There is a petition gathering steam as we speak -- 36,668 signatures as of this writing -- and if you're a PC or Dark Souls fan, we don't see any danger in adding your own to the fight. Unless the CIA is using it to compile a list of suspected terrorists or something.
Frustrated fans demand Motorola make good on promise, deliver unlocked bootloaders
Like HTC and Sony Ericsson, Motorola had previously committed itself to deliver products with unlockable bootloaders. In fact, the company went so far as to profess that it would make this functionality available across its entire product line by late 2011 -- subject to carrier approval, anyway. While the first two companies have made good on their claims, Motorola seems content to be silent on the matter. Certainly the international version of the RAZR can't equal the sum total of the company's promise, right? Now that 2011 has come and gone, some of Motorola's most fervent supporters are growing anxious. In an effort to grab the company's attention -- and see that something gets done -- one individual has started Operation: Make Ourselves Heard, which has gathered approximately 1,600 signatures from like-minded individuals, each who seek tangible progress from Motorola. If this issue is important to you, we certainly encourage you to sign the petition.
LightSquared not looking so good sans FCC approval, files petition to confirm its spectrum rights
It's been an up and down year for LightSquared, as the company lined up plenty of customers for its wholesale LTE network, but GPS interference issues have put the would-be wireless provider's plans on hold while it waits for FCC approval. According to a report by Reuters, LightSquared's finances may prevent it from exercising the patience needed to wait that long, as it posted a $427 million net loss during the first nine months of 2011. Apparently, the company needs a cash infusion by Q2 of 2012 to pay the hundreds of millions it owes Sprint under their agreement, make its debt payments and continue with its business plans. Naturally, it'll be hard to get the dollars it needs without FCC approval, so LightSquared has filed a petition with the FCC asking the commission to confirm its rights to the spectrum LightSquared licensed over eight years ago. Now, we play the waiting game to see if the FCC full-court press gives LightSquared's LTE network the green light. In the meantime, check out a copy of the petition at the second source below.
SOPA hearing delayed until the new year as petition signatures top 25k
Hearings in the US House of Representatives to finish markup on the Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA) were slated to resume tomorrow, but it looks like things will remain at a standstill until next year. The holiday break has now pushed the committee hearing back to a yet-to-be-rescheduled date, with nothing more specific than "early next year" being promised at the moment. That news comes as a Whitehouse.gov petition asking President Obama to veto the bill and any future ones like it passed its goal of 25,000 signatures, well ahead of the January 17th deadline (as of this writing, the count stands around 29,000).
Urgent help needed to resurrect Mega Man Legends 3, says local paper ad
You can't squash the spirit of "100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3," an online activist group that hasn't yet amassed its titular display of quantitative strength. The message is already reaching far and wide through a dedicated blog, Facebook page and coverage on outlets like this one, but what of the inattentive, uninformed supporters-to-be in Lagrange, Topeka and Shipshewana, Michigan? Group member Paul Barrett posted a photo of his own grassroots effort to override Capcom's culling of Mega Man projects. "Urgent help needed!" reads the ad, placed in Tuesday's issue of The Gateway Shopper, a paper local to Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana. It politely asks for help in undoing the events of "the worst day in gaming history." Even if only an (utterly optimistic) eighth of newspaper readers join the cause -- it appears The Gateway Shopper has a current circulation of 9,838 -- the group must still inch its way toward the halfway mark of 50,000 supporters. Of course, now that the paper's online, its effect has been considerably magnified. Hey, don't blame us for digging out a speck of hope. We're already disheartened that, for many people, MML is gradually devolving into FML.
Apple withdraws iTunes from 'Christian Values Network'
Techland reports that Apple has pulled iTunes off of the "Christian Values Network." The network operates an online shopping portal, CVN.org, which "plugs you into a special online shopping network that helps your chosen organization just by shopping, without adding any additional cost to you" according to the site. Many big-name companies were indirectly associated with the site in this manner, including Apple. Why has Apple chosen to withdraw its affiliate program from the site? According to Techland, the Southern Poverty Law Center has determined that many of the religious groups associated with the site are classified as "active hate groups." Family Research Council, for instance, is an active lobbyist against rights for LGBT individuals and insists that divorcing couples with children be subject to a one-year waiting period before the divorce can be finalized. Many other religious groups associated with CVN are active campaigners against homosexual rights. Ben Crowther launched a petition to convince Apple to withdraw iTunes from CVN, and given Apple's past support for LGBT issues, it's not surprising Apple followed suit. However, in this case Apple isn't exactly blazing the trail; Microsoft withdrew its support from CVN two weeks earlier, and Wells Fargo, Delta Airlines, and Macy's did as well. More than 35,000 people signed the petition, which began on July 5. I've often been skeptical of the utility of online petitions, but this one definitely got Apple's attention. (Comments on this post will be strictly moderated.)
Sony Online Entertainment issues an official response to Star Wars Galaxies petitions
The news that Star Wars Galaxies will soon be shutting down has been met with quite a bit of sadness from the players, for understandable reason: The game has just recently hit its eight-year anniversary and remains a large and unique game in many respects. Players had banded together to start a petition to save the game, one large enough to merit an official response from Sony Online Entertainment. But we're sorry to say that this isn't something to get excited about; the official response is, essentially, that the decision is made. Posted by Linda "Brasse" Carlson, the short response thanks players for their dedication and commitment to the game but notes that the agreement between SOE and LucasArts has been made after a great deal of discussion, and it's not going to be reversed. The letter closes by urging Star Wars Galaxies players to enjoy the game's twilight months by playing the game while it's still around, which is good advice but certainly sad news for those who had held out hopes for an 11th-hour reprieve.
Apple's infrared 'camera kill switch' patent application hits a nerve
Picture this: You're out for a stroll on the streets of Vancouver when suddenly you find yourself caught up in a depressed mob of hockey fans. Riot police are striking a young man with their batons near a squad car. You pull out your iPhone to capture a video of this seeming abuse of force -- only to see a flashing message on the screen that says 'Recording Disabled.' Earlier this month, Patently Apple analyzed a patent application filing that Apple originally submitted in December of 2009. The patent application covered several ways to communicate with a cellphone through its camera using a coded infrared light transmission. Simply pointing your phone's camera at a properly equipped museum exhibit, for example, could load a webpage about the artifact on display or offer additional details about its origins. An auction house or fashion show could easily provide pricing, availability or 'click to bid' buttons. The technology would work like a giant, invisible QR code -- although it couldn't do the bidirectional sharing that Google's demo showed earlier. You also couldn't block it with a bit of masking tape, since the infrared data stream is captured by the phone's camera itself, not by a separate sensor. That's the user-affirming side of the patent. The other big use case, however, is for the infrared transmission to tell the phone "Hey, no pictures here!" The suggested applications are for concert halls, movie theaters or even sensitive corporate/government facilities -- giving those venue owners an easy way to block photography or videotaping of copyrighted or classified materials. Whether you think that's a terrible idea or an awesome idea may rest on whether or not you own a concert hall or a movie theater. Of course, Apple patents or patent applications often don't evolve into actual, shipping Apple products. (Remember the 'undead ads for content time' patent? Ick.) Nevertheless, even in the hypothetical case, the spectre of a 'kill switch' for the iPhone camera is not sitting all that well in certain circles. The Save the Internet coalition has published a suggested open letter to Steve Jobs that suggests this patent application is deeply repugnant to the ideals of freedom: "[T]housands of people across the Middle East have used cellphone cameras to document violent government abuses. This technology would also give tyrants the power to stem the flow of protest videos and crack down on their citizens with impunity." The petition continues, "If this tool fell into the hands of repressive regimes or malicious corporations, it would give tyrants and companies the power to silence one of the most critical forms of free expression." Now, there's a wide gulf between blocking cameras at concerts and quashing dissent by democratic activists -- at least in theory. First of all, would-be repressive regimes would have to set up expensive equipment in advance, which would work only at short range -- and even if they did that there'd be no guarantee that all the phones in the area would comply with the invisible orders, so the requisite shakedown of all camera-enabled devices by armed enforcers would still have to be done. In the chaos and commotion of the kind of situations that would tend to motivate large-scale iPhone videography, it's by no means clear that this 'kill switch' would even work. As my colleague Chris Rawson points out, your average infrared TV remote control is thoroughly flummoxed by simple sunlight. None of this, however, means that it's prudent to stand atop the slippery slope of external device controls and say "Looks like a nice ride down." It's easy to think, as I did when first reading the admittedly hyperbolic language of the petition, "Look, the iPhone is not the only camera in the world; professional bootleg videographers don't use crappy cameraphones at all, protesters have many different kinds of phones and cameras at their disposal, and as soon as this capability gets rolled out people will simply jump to another platform to work around it." [Never mind the fact that Flickr now shows the iPhone 4 as the most popular camera on the site, bar none. –Ed.] The problem is that market reaction takes time, and in the thought experiment I played out at the beginning of this post there's no time to react. If you were in a traffic stop that went wrong, a political rally with a bad outcome, a movie theater where someone was being assaulted -- there's no chance to go back in time and say "You know, that iPhone camera kill switch may not have been such a good idea after all." It's impossible to say, without access to Apple's labs, whether this technology is truly viable, whether it would work in daylight, and whether it could really be used in the situations envisioned by the petition writers. It's equally impossible to say whether Apple intends to implement and commercialize this invention, or even if the company's patent application would be granted. Maybe Apple's secret objective in pursuing this patent is not to implement it in products -- to keep the concept off the market in perpetuity, or at least for the life of the patent. But that doesn't seem likely, and in the absence of comment from Apple about whether and how the capability would be implemented in future iPhones (a comment that is undoubtedly not coming anytime soon), all we have is our questions.
LG Optimus 2X is world's first dual-core phone necessitating an online petition
Early adopters of the Optimus 2X are rightfully proud to carry the distinction of owning the world's first dual-core smartphone, however, that badge of honor comes with a steep price. In LG's rush to be first, it delivered a unpolished operating system that hinders the speed and stability of the phone -- and we're now seeing user reports suggesting the troubles may go beyond software. Notably, the forum at xda-developers now exceeds 100 pages of comments describing blank, unresponsive screens, random reboots and exceedingly hot temperatures when recharging. While many owners are performing various forms of voodoo hoping to stave off the symptoms, the problems are intermittent, making fixes difficult to verify. Regardless, putting the phone in a paper bag and lighting candles isn't going to banish the ghost in this machine. In response to LG's silence, frustrated users have started an online petition to bring their plight to the public's eye. Here's a little boost to the cause -- if you're an affected owner, please add yourself to the list of names by following the source.
EVE Spotlight: An interview with GM Guard
EVE Spotlight is a new bi-weekly feature in which we interview prominent members of EVE Online's player community or development team. Twice each month, we'll be shining the spotlight on a player or developer who has a significant impact on EVE to highlight the efforts of EVE's most influential people. It's an inherent part of MMO development that certain employees must take on a very visible role in the game's online community. This is especially true in EVE Online as developers are encouraged to communicate with players through the forum and write detailed devblogs on what they're working on. In that sense, GM Guard needs very little introduction. Along with GM Grimmi and others, Guard has been a very public face for GMs in the community for as long as I can remember. While Guard has made huge contributions to EVE behind the scenes as a lead GM, he's probably most well-known for his role in CCP's internal band Permaband. He has now moved on from the GM team to become EVE's new Community Developer. The role of GMs in any MMO is pivotal, and yet they so often come under fire from players who don't get the response they're hoping for or who have to wait too long for an answer. Many EVE players are also unaware of the procedures for escalating petitions, reporting exploits, contacting internal affairs or other important activities. In this EVE Spotlight, we got together with former Lead GM Guard to pick his brains on these topics, find out a little about CCP's support division, and ask about Permaband's next song.
Public Service Announcement: Don't file false GM reports
This may seem like common sense to a lot of people, but it came up as an issue recently on the official Customer Support forums. The message is simple: Don't file false GM tickets. Whether you're doing it to get back at someone you dislike, to play a prank on someone, or just because you're bored, don't do it. Support forum agent Nevalistis points out that false reports are is against the Game Master interaction policy. Each GM petition is taken seriously, and if the GMs see a pattern of frivolous or false reports, they can and will take action from warnings all the way up to suspension or permanent account closure. Those of us who have tried to petition a GM lately know how long the queue times are -- so from all of us with legitimate problems, please make sure your ticket is legit. It may save your account, it may save a GM's sanity, and it'll certainly help those with real problems get the help they need a little faster.
Visceral Games hears disabled gamer, adding customizable controls to Dead Space 2
Spooky cathedrals, fun technology and lots of slimy necromorphs to dismember at will -- is there anything else you could possibly want in Dead Space 2? Well, Gareth Garratt, a gamer living with cerebral palsy, would like to see customizable controls implemented in the game. Garratt is trying to play the horror sequel on PC, partly by pushing a mouse with his chin, and is unhappy that he can't assign the "walk forward" command to a mouse button. Plenty of games allow for customizable controls, he says, so why can't Dead Space 2? Over 20,000 fellow players agree, and they've signed an online Internet petition asking video game publishers to make sure that all games offer customization for their controls. Here's the good news: Dead Space 2 dev Visceral Games has already heard them loud and clear. Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis tells Joystiq that a patch for the PC version of the game enabling full control remapping is on the way, and that "a number of folks on our team are so passionate about getting this fix done that they are currently working hard" on it. Papoutsis says the patch will fix a few other issues with the PC version, and that a release date will be announced "when the patch is fully tested." You can read his remarks in full after the break.
