Apple is becoming Big Brother, Hal. But?resistance is NOT futile!

Last Friday, police – yes, police! – barged into the home of Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor who left the prototype iPhone in a bar, and seized a laundry list of computers, documents, and other electronic devices.  This is one of the main reasons I refuse to buy anything Apple:  while Android and WinMo are – at least for the time being – open source, Apple has always been a police state. This was fine when it was just a little thorn in Microsoft’s side, but now that it’s become so pervasive in our everyday lives, it’s megalomania has become our problem.

Of course, if there was any legal wrongdoing, Apple does have every right – and, arguably, the obligation – to seek legal action in order to recoup its losses.  However, the rather brutal arrest of Chen really just indicates to a much larger problem:  Apple controls many people’s “virtual” lives.  With its products becoming the de facto portal to our online, mobile, and computing lives, the idea of one company having such control over that to which we do and do not have access is more than a little frightening. 

But, perhaps people aren’t as “sheepish” as we may think.  Check out these stats:

In recent months, Android is clearly arching upwards while the iPhone sales have declined. This is an excellent sign that people are realizing the tight grip Apple holds and are turning to the alternate, open source Android.  The Android operating system is every bit as capable as iPhone’s OS (if not better, from both a programmatic and end-user point-of-view).

Tim Bray, creator of XML markup language and popular blogger, has recently joined the Android team, and I think that he sums it all up quite well:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

I hate it.

I hate it even though the iPhone hardware and software are great, because freedom’s not just another word for anything, nor is it an optional ingredient.

The big thing about the Web isn’t the technology, it’s that it’s the first-ever platform without a vendor (credit for first pointing this out goes to Dave Winer). From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It’s the only kind of platform I want to help build.

Apple apparently thinks you can have the benefits of the Internet while at the same time controlling what programs can be run and what parts of the stack can be accessed and what developers can say to each other.

I think they’re wrong and see this job as a chance to help prove it.

Perhaps it’s time for people to throw their iPhones into the river.  And being from (and living in) Boston, I can really appreciate that!