Metadata +
Metadata + is an application software (app) for smartphones with which the worldwide drone attacks of the US military are displayed and documented.
Josh Begley from California programmed the app as part of his master's thesis. There is currently a version for iPhones ; another version for Android is currently in preparation. The application available in the App Store provides daily information (optionally even with push notifications ) about the number and victims of American drone missions. Most of the information about attacks comes from the UK Bureau of Investigative Journalism . Apple itself rejects the content of the app.
Build versions of Metadata +
From 2012 to 2014, Apple rejected the application a total of five times. The group rejected the app for the first time in July 2012. At that time the app was still called Drone + . The review team justified the rejection with the lack of "entertainment" and the "uselessness" of the application. In addition, it does not appeal to the general public. After two more unsuccessful attempts, in August 2012 Apple only said that the content offered could be perceived by users as “cruel and repulsive” .
Instead of changing the focus of his application, the author submitted an empty application called Metadata + to the app store in January 2014 . This initially had no content and was "tacitly accepted" by Apple (Begley). Only then did he implement the data of the drone attacks via an update. Visually, however, the app looks exactly the same as in its original version from 2012. According to various journalists, the currently available edition of the app is only available because Begley submitted the application free of information. The version now available is called "Metadata +" and could be filled with almost any content. The app could be downloaded free of charge until the end of September 2015. When Apple deleted Metadata + from the app store, the developer was only sent a general reason for deleting the app: "Many users would find the content of the app offensive."
Twitter information on the same topic with sources
Since 2013 Begley has also been posting information about drone attacks on Twitter on the Internet. There the Twitter followers can also see Begley's sources, these are linked.
Sociopolitical response
Former Democratic member of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Dennis Kucinich welcomed the app because anything that would bring more transparency into the American drone program would help.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Mark Bihler: Smartphone program: This iPhone app shows dead drones. Evening newspaper Munich online, February 13, 2014
- ↑ a b For the iPhone: huge dispute over the first drone app: It shows who was killed where ... BILD online , February 13, 2014
- ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/videoblog/usa/drohnenkrieg-kritik100.html ( Memento from April 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Metadata +: Death as a push notification Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.iphone-ticker.de/metadata-drohnen-60928/
- ↑ a b Vasudevan Sridharan: Apple authorises Metadata + app that tracks US drone strikes. International Business Times online, February 9, 2014 (English)
- ↑ Metadata +: Death as a push notification Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
