Apple’s grey list: Words and phrases your iPhone won’t help you spell(theguardian.com)
532 points by user_7832 4 days ago | 359 comments
tl;dr: Independent researcher Derik Kauffman discovered a hard-coded "grey list" of over 100,000 words and phrases embedded in Apple's iOS that its predictive text and swipe-typing won't autocomplete. While some entries cover drugs and sexual acts, the list also includes politically sensitive terms like "Trayvon Martin," "Kashmir dispute," "Tibetan independence," "the occupied territories" (in Hebrew), and "the Hamas movement" (in Arabic). Apple says the keyboard is designed to avoid offensive suggestions, and users can still manually type any word.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Apple's iOS keyboard quality is generally poor and neglected compared to competitors
  • ↑This constitutes soft censorship and coercion even if users can manually type the words
  • ↓Not autocompleting controversial phrases is sensible design, not censorship
  • ~This behavior isn't unique to Apple; other keyboards like Gboard likely do the same
  • ↑Related examples of Apple silently suppressing content reinforce concerns about hidden filtering