Call to Action
Android has released a dog fighting app for its phones. Not only is this disgusting, but is wrong.
As Sloan Quealy-Miner writes at BSL News
Android who is owned by Google has come out with a new application game for your phone called DOG WARS (developed by Kage Games LLC). This game is a DOG FIGHTING GAME. The player feeds, waters, trains and FIGHTS the virtual dog for virtual money. It is clear to me that the people at Google/Android /Kage Games think dog fighting is a joke and that perpetuating the myth that pit bulls are inherently aggressive has no repercussions.
To protest this app, you can click here.
Unlike Apple, Android does not filter apps to meet some kind of Steve Jobs morality test to allow them in to the Apple Walled Orchard. Android demands that members of the Android marketplace meet certain qualifying standards; once they do, they are free to participate without advance screening of their work.
True, even the idea of this is disgusting and I support protesting it and expect that the protest will succeed, but to imply, as the quoted excerpt does, that Google was responsible for this inane game is kind of like saying the owner of a flea market is responsible for what a seller places on his or her table.
Throwing animated birds at things is so much more humane than animated dog-fighting.
Also, Grand Theft Auto.
That makes me sick to my stomach.
I worry for this breed.
The punks into dog-fighting have corrupted the lines.
These dogs were never aggressive until assholes started “training”them to be.
It’s fucking sad.
PETEY from the OUR GANG comedies was an American Stafferford[?sp] Terrier.
I am more offended by Android’s privacy violations.
Android keeps a history file of every location you have ever been at, and sends that information back to Google. That location file plus your contacts, photos, browsing history, and calling history can also be slurped out of your phone by an ordinary policeman during a traffic stop or other police encounter, no password required.
Apple is doing pretty much the same thing.
Every Android phone is wardriving, cataloging the ID and location of every wireless access point it comes near and sending the information back to Google for inclusion in a massive database of every router in America. Pretty soon, when you walk by a deli you will get a text message advertising the sandwich special there. And that is a benign example.
See if your home router is mapped by Google:
http://samy.pl/androidmap/
So no, in that context I am not really worried about some cartoon dogs.
– Android did not release the software.
– Dog fighting is disgusting.
– Videogames where people kill other people are also disgusting.
– Android programs collect your location data, only if you allow it.
– Android doesnt keep a history file that police can readily access.
– People need to learn more facts before spreading paranoia.
– Apple collects location data.
– You gave Apple permission when you licensed your phone.
– Uninformed people frequent blogs.
I know what you mean. And to think, if they only had released another app with human animals killing one another, then wouldn’t have to bothered to be outraged and publicly object.
Dana – humans can defend themselves. Dogs have no one to defend them against this type of abuse except us.
Does that mean I’m not allowed to like Duck Hunt now? I’d never really go hunting but come on, those pixilated birds are ASKING for it.
Much ado about nothing. I’ve never ate dots while being chased by ghosts and only once did attempt to rip the spine out of a guy ( it was before the game and he deserved it).
The argument against pretend violence always fails the Three Stooges/Road Runner test. I certainly have no interest playing a game where the intent is to harm animals but most of the games I play require a Nazi/Commie/Mutant dog getting a shotgun blast to the face.
Oh yeah, I own Boardwalk,the utilities and 4 rail roads; pay up.
I agree w/ Joe Cass, possibly for the 1st time in my life.
I can’t believe people STILL get their tighty-whities in a bunch over VIDEO GAMES, regardless of content.
My mother wouldn’t let my siblings and me have toy guns when we were kids. That didn’t stop us from PRETENDING to shoot our playmates. We simply used sticks or our hands in place of the contraband toys. Our playmates were just as “dead” regardless.
The point, in case you missed it, is that IMAGINARY “death” is just that–IMAGINARY, not REAL. Get back to us when there is no more HUMAN suffering on earth. Then we can move on to animal suffering, and after that, we’ll worry about the imaginary animals.
Well, I think it’s awesome.
Think. One glance at the apps on his phone can tell you pretty much exactly what a loser the new guy is.
On behalf of the species, I think the government should hurry up and get everyone a smart phone. Let’s put this technology to work. 😉
_nlmmln_ you’re right, uninformed people do frequent blogs, welcome to the party.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277101723453610.html
android does collect your location whether or not you are even using an app.
@anon40, its a christmas miracle! We share an opinion AND an experience (forefinger=barrel & thumb=hammer). Thats a twofer and may all your progeny be wiser.
People are irate about an app, an silly program for christ’s sake, but not about how our government sold OUR frequencies to these same entities that made platforms for apps they didn’t create. And don’t you have to pay for the sheer joy of birds, or dogs or farting on command?
Smart phones. Whatever ills befall apple users is alright by me. You deserve the worst. The only worse than an apple consumer is Alabama. Apple is genocide. Actually, why don’t you all go out and get Ipenises and put them in the baskets for all the children who haven’t been heard by their parents because they’re being too cool with the Iphone and Ipads and so excited to be enslaved by a product built by slave labor without regard to the environment. How many of you douchebags sent douchebag text/email/Isucks about earthday today. Yeah, get your kids and grandkids these devices because none of you will ever do the other any good.
@Joe Cass–
It really is a Christmas Miracle, because I agree w/ you again, with one caveat–
I don’t own a smart phone, but I DO know that Apple doesn’t use Google’s Android operating system.
This pretty much sums up EVERYTHING.
@Anon40 I wasn’t accusing,; I was generalizing, in a angry, immature and anti-social manner.
You’re top of the pops with me (for the moment). The point is games are not responsible for a person’s behaviour. Song lyrics do not dictate a person’s actions. Its ridiculous to become incensed by such a trivial thing. This business about Iphones and Android tracking data is another example of insincere objection. We’ve known about this ever since and warned people that when they they post pics that there is a geo-tag.
Sorry, I wandered. The fact we are communicating civilly has given me the vapors.
The Chive,huh?
Love that kid!
Thanks for sharing!
Hey,who’s the computer geek on here?
Here’s a couple of ideas for apps you can develop and copyright.
Bull-baiting.
Whale harpooning.
Clubbing baby seals.
WHOOPEE!!!!!
Let’s all further de-humanize and desensitize ourselves to violence.
So it doesn’t bother anyone that Android/Google is promoting a video game for an illegal activity, an activity that cost one of your Eagles a few years in prison?
I think I’m on record as being bothered MJ.
I guess chucking birds as bombs is ok, but god forbid we have dogs fight.
Now where’s my first person shooter game, I need to go kill some talibanees!
So it doesn’t bother anyone that Android/Google is promoting a video game for an illegal activity, an activity that cost one of your Eagles a few years in prison?
I’m pretty sure stealing cars and driving 120 mph is illegal too. Are you saying that playing video games will cause people to start actually having dog fights?
It has been proven DV, that many of our young folks have gotten stupid ideas from violent video games and movies. This app is just wrong. If you can’t see why it’s wrong, then I pity you.
Yes, some things are just wrong. That’s why, when playing Grand Theft Auto III, sure I killed hundreds of pixilated people, destroyed millions of dollars of imaginary property, stole every kind of vehicle from garbage trucks to tanks to an ice-cream van and even picked up the pixilated hookers for car-bouncing sex on several occasions. But I drew the line: I never killed the hookers afterward so I could take my pixilated money back. What do you think I am, a sociopath or something?
Okay, I’m old and tech-challenged, given. But I fail to see the entertainment in this stuff. What makes this sort of violence fun? That’s what worries me.
The other night I happened to see an ABC show depicting people jumping on mechanized smasher things and then hurling themselves at giant tootie pop things and falling into a mud pit. There was more but I couldn’t manage to watch it. Is this funny? Obviously somebody’s watching or it wouldn’t be there. I guess I’m just a wuuss but I thought it was sadistic.
I target shoot, but I use a bulls-eye, never a human silhouette.
They use human targets in the services to DESENSITIZE the shooter and allow them to kill first and fast. It saves their lives.
I suggest that people who enjoy this, enlist and enjoy the experience up front and personal in Afghanistan.
MJ – I think there are a few points here. Google/Android is an operating system, so to claim that they are responsible is like blaming Microsoft for a crappy freeware app you downloaded.
So by all means, protest, but make sure your fire is directed at the proper target Kage Games LLC.
Second, you haven’t responded at all to the concern that other people have expressed here about whether a video game that depicts an illegal activity (or even an immoral activity) should be illegal for purchase/download.
LG – Android is making the app available, just as Apple made the app that was supposed to cure teh gay available. Both Android and Apple are wrong for making this app available, whether they developed it or not.
As to whether I would make it illegal to download this type of app, I don’t know. I guess I would let each person’s moral compass guide them. Nonetheless, the app should not be available to be purchased, IMO.
Android is making the app available, just as Apple made the app that was supposed to cure teh gay available.
See, this is where you are wrong. Apple has set up their store so that everyone has to go through them to list a program available for download. This has made them the de facto moral police of what can be run on an iOS device. It is Apple’s store.
The Android market is much more like the aforementioned flea market. Developers can meet technical requirements for writing for the Android platform and they can pretty much write whatever they want.
For fun, you can review the terms for developers on the Android platform here. You can get a feel for the Apple process here.
But you are starting to sound like someone that’s pissed off that there is porn on the Internet and boycotting AOL.
If I’m wrong about Apple, how do you explain this? – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/apple-exodus-international-app_n_837698.html
And no, I’m not pissed off that there is porn on the Internet nor am I boycotting AOL.
You are still not getting it. I’ll try one more time…
Apple exerts editorial control over the software that it allows to run on its devices.
Google has made a fundamentally different decision about the same issue. They exert virtually no control over the software that users want to run.
So when Apple does let something odious through, it was a conscious decision on their part to allow it. When it happens in the Android market, Google is basically clean, since they NEVER pass judgment on the content of the application.
Or is the issue that you think Apple and Google are the same? Because, frankly, I’m lost in your logic.
Google/Android has to take responsibility for apps that are run on its system, whether they maintain “editorial control” or not. By allowing the app to run on its system, they are giving it their de facto approval. And allowing a “game” that portrays dog fighting is just wrong.
“Google/Android has to take responsibility for apps that are run on its system”
Does Microsoft have to do the same? Really you’re not getting the point. Android is an open operating system for phones/tablets. Google provides the operating system (kind of like Windows). Google has NOTHING to do with the developers that develop apps for Android.
“By allowing the app to run on its system, they are giving it their de facto approval”
No they’re not. If that was the case, Comcast would be responsible for the content of all of the Internet traffic that passes through it’s network.
We get it…You don’t like the app.. But just because YOU don’t like something, you want to ban it. Interesting position from a liberal 🙂
I am getting it, Mark. Sorry if you don’t like what I’m saying. And there are many conservatives/libertarians/liberals, what have you, that agree with me.
Maybe we should just have a let’s gas the Jews app available.
And before you get your panties in a bunch, Mark, I’m Jewish. Just showing the folly of allowing certain apps to be available.
Sorry MJ, I’m a first amendment absolutist 🙂 And again Google is not allowing certain apps to be available. Android is the Operating System. Developers write the apps. You’re mad at the wrong entity here.
And that’s the problem with “absolutists,” there’s no gray area. But in the real world, there is.
So let’s say your local market makes a product available that is known to cause birth defects. It’s a legal product and they didn’t package it or develop it, only stocked it on their shelves. Are they wrong for doing this?
MJ, no they are not. You going to close down all of the stores that sell cigarettes?
Really, you have to work a little harder on this one 🙂
Actually, I’m not going to have to work harder at anything. I have a moral compass that tell me right from wrong. This app is wrong. I really don’t care if you agree with me or not. I’m not here for your approval. 😛
This game violates Google’s policies set forth at android market by promoting illegal activity. Therefore Google may remove it. I will keep on this until they do.
“I have a moral compass that tell me right from wrong”
And so does Frank Knotts. I’m going to guess that his compass says anything you do in your bedroom is wrong 🙂
“promoting illegal activity”
And Grand Theft Auto doesn’t??
I’m not arguing that the app in question is bad or good, just that your venom is aimed at the wrong target.
It’s not venom. And the difference between me and Frank Knotts is that I have a brain.
I’m not spewing venom at the wrong target. I want google to remove the app and I want the developer to know how vile he/it is. I’ve contacted both entities to tell them how I feel. I only have the developer’s email address and Twitter name, so I would love to know if anyone finds out anything more about who it is.
I know there is a Kage Games LLC registered in Delaware, but I don’t know if that’s the developer and asking for more info on the registrant is available at cost.
“And the difference between me and Frank Knotts is that I have a brain”
Can’t prove that you use your brain with this thread 🙂
Whatever. Are you having fun trolling around here today?
No matter what the squabbles are here about who’s entitled to be offended and whose rights are being infringed on, dogs genetically love and trust us. And we treat them like we treat young, weak, damaged and unlucky humans (who also genetically love and trust us).
The difference is, we don’t underpay a layer of beauracrats to protect dogs, but we do for children.
Pitbulls are the canary in our society’s coalmine.