Apple under fire from activists for shooting down drone app

The app Drones+ uses info provided by the U.K.'s Bureau of Investigative Journalism to map the locations where U.S. drone strikes have occurred.

(Credit: Josh Begley/RootsAction.)

An activist group has organized an online petition to press Apple to stop blocking Drones+, an iPhone app that maps locations where U.S. drone strikes have occurred.

Apple had earlier described the app as "objectionable" and "not in compliance with the app store review guidelines." Apple's rules govern what apps can and can't contain in order to be made available in its proprietary App Store.

"Drones+ is an application that shows no depictions of the carnage of war and reveals no secret information. It simply adds a location to a map every time a drone strike is reported in the media and added to a database maintained by the U.K.'s Bureau of Investigative Journalism," according to a statement put out by Roots Action, which is run by the left-leaning Action for a Progressive Future.

"Drone wars continue because the U.S. public is unaware what is being done in our name with our money. We are interested in knowing where our government is u... [Read more]