Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information

Re:Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information by Doctor_Fegg on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @06:23AM (#6633031)

It's not "censorship" if it's Apple's own forums. A censor is a _third party_ who acts as an arbiter of what is morally acceptable elsewhere (OED definition: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/censor). Apple are entirely within their rights to remove stuff from their own website... even if they're being dicks by doing so.

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Re:Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information by Amadou on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @06:51AM (#6633130)

A censor is a _third party_

The definition you linked to says nothing about 3rd parties, only officials without specifying who they work for. In fact, one of the examples given in that definition is film censors which is within scope here - in the US film censorship is done by the MPAA which is an organization composed of movie studios. Most of the films they censor are produced by their own members.

The use of the word censor in this discussion is entirely within the common and technical definitions of the term.

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Re:Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information by LogicX on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @07:30AM (#6633259)

OT, and sharing only because I learned this week: MPAA ratings are an opt-in guideline and can be ignored by movie theaters.

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/new-york-theater-will-admi...

Though most theaters do abide by the ratings, and therefore movies will continue to modify their content until they get at least an 'R' rating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Association_of_...

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Re:Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information by eli on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @08:19AM (#6633479)

If you want to learn about how bonkers the MPAA ratings process is, check out this documentary: This Film Is Not Yet Rated http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/

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Re:Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information by Doctor_Fegg on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @09:26AM (#6633859)

Each to their own, but I wouldn't call what the MPAA does "censorship" (to my limited knowledge, that is; I'm not an American).

The MPAA issues ratings; it's up to the studio to decide whether to make cuts to a film in order to attain a particular rating. No-one forces the studio to make the cuts (Wikipedia: "The MPAA rating system is a voluntary scheme not enforced by law and films can be exhibited without a rating").

Sure, it might be commercial suicide to issue a film with a particular rating, but the right to free speech != the right to make lots of money.

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Re:Apple censors Lawrence Lessig over warranty information by judk on Tuesday October 29, 2013 @10:54AM (#6634534)

The rating system is only "voluntary" in the sense that the government will decline to impose its own rating system as long as the private one meets the government's goals.

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