After finding the app controversial, Apple decided to ban an iPhone app called “Jew or Not Jew” in France. As you might expect, the app allows users to search for a specific person and find out whether or not the person is Jewish. The database contains over 3,500 well-known people.
The developer, Johann Levy, says the app does not in any way support racism. In fact, he is Jewish himself and claims it supports pride if anything. He provides a simple explanation:
“I’m not a spokesman for all Jews, but as a Jew myself, I know that in our community we often ask whether such and such celebrity is Jewish or not.”
SOS Racisme, an anti-racist group, called out the app as illegal since France forbids the “compliation of personal data without the individual’s consent.” Breaking this law is punishable by a pricey fine and up to five years in jail. The app is still available elsewhere in the world for $1.99, so party-goers now have a new app they can whip out when it’s time for board games. Just yesterday we reported another app was removed from the iOS App Store by the name of Phone Story. This app, however, was removed on much more substantial grounds. During gameplay, users must catch suicide-jumping Foxconn workers as they fall from the building and force children to work at gun point.
[via BBC News] [Image credit: AP]