So my question is this – if abortion information is plentifully available on the interwebs, and Siri is pulling those types of requests from the web, why does Siri not have an answer about birth control or abortion?
~ Mr. Banana Grabber, wondering why the new iPhone4 feature Siri does not generate information for abortion searches, Abortioneers, November 27
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Okay, after reading the article (which took a bit of haggling with the link; I think it may be broken) and looking at the searches they’ve run, I have to say that it looks like the Siri programmers must have specifically disabled Siri’s search engine from returning results on abortion. It seems to have crunched through a bazillion other requests without a blink and returned relevant results. It would be an awfully bizarre blind spot if this is not a deliberate action.
For the first time in a long time, I’m thinking I may actually buy something from Apple in the future. Go them!
Alice, thanks for the heads up. Broken link fixed.
While i like Apple’s idea of a “walled garden”, it should be optional. If people want to install their own apps, like on Android, let them do so, but want them that this is at their own risk. i think, however, there’s a sense of security within the Apple ecosystem, where there is no Adobe Flash or pornographic products available in the App Store. :)
I think the abortion results thing is intentional, because abortion is antithetical to everything Mr. Jobs stood for, and it makes sense that if he was against porn and there is no porn allowed on the iphone, there would be no abortion, either. ;)
So glad that Apple has decided not to be complicit in abortion!
apple is not all good….there are apps called “Sex Quiz” and other adult themed ones. I have looked for harmless apps…like trivia games for example and seen these adult ones in the categories list. So, apple isn’t all innocent!
Answer: Steve Jobs’ mama didn’t abort him, she delivered him alive and let someone adopt him.
I still have the Siri App loaded on the my iPhone 4 and it starts up but then gives an error message about being unable to connect to the server. Apple didn’t even have the courtesy to put a message that says Siri is no longer available unless you buy the 4s, we just get a server broken error .
I just checked mine and here’s what I got:
“Search for abortion clinics.” Answer: Google search results including Planned Parenthood.
“Where can I get an abortion?” Answer: Searching near your location. I could not find any abortion clinics. (But I live more than 100 miles from an abortion mill.)
Perhaps it all depends on the phrasing.
Naral complained, sending Apple a letter that Siri doesn’t provide information on “comprehensive health services” and then ranting, as usual, about CPCs lying and blah, blah, blah….accurate pregnancy information.,….not like NARAL tells the truth! Their buddy PP said heart tones! And lies about fetal development.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/30/naral-complains-to-apple-about-siri-iphone-abortion-results/
http://searchengineland.com/why-siri-cant-find-abortion-clinics-103349
This should explain what’s happened. It’s not deliberate on Apple’s part unless they also have a problem with giving people information about hardware stores.