WikiLeaks iPhone App Made $5,840 Before Pulled By Apple, $1 From Each Sale Will Be Donated To WikiLeaks

Igor Barinov, the developer behind the WikiLeaks app that got removed from the App store,has revealed the total breakdown of his app’s reach before it got taken down by Apple. Total damage? 4443 downloads and $5,840.14 in profit. The Moscow-based Barinov says that he’ll be donating $1.00 from each sale, a total of $4443 dollars, to WikiLeaks.

Barinov explained his motivations on our original post, “I dont mind what wikileaks posts. But i like the way they are defending what i care about = my domain, my traffic, my 127.0.0.1. And if that way will lead to “alternative internet” – i dont want just to press Like button.”

Perhaps this semi-charity feature is what lead Apple to take down the app in the first place? Barinov holds that the company said over the phone that the app violated the following points of the iPhone Developer TOS. Apple confirmed the first point but not the second in a statement to the New York Times.

14.1 Any app that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harms way will be rejected

21.1 Apps that include the ability to make donations to recognized charitable organizations must be free

Because he’ll have to wait until January for Apple to transfer the money to his account, Barinov tells us he’ll most likely end up paying out of pocket initially. He also says will be sending the modest profits he did eek out to WikiLeaks via wire transfer (other optionsinclude sending a check but not PayPal, Mastercard or Visa) but is unclear on how to confirm that WikiLeaks actually received the money.

Barinov gave us no word on whether he plans on setting up shop in the Android market, which currently boasts multiple WikiLeaks apps.

Update: Barinov just sent me Apple’s official written response, the second TOS statute that the app is violating is …

22.1 Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws

not 21.1 as reported above. Barinov also mentioned that he has already sent the money to WikiLeaks.

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Now Apple Removes WikiLeaks App From App Store

Looks like an unofficial iPhone and iPad app that let you view WikiLeaks site content and follow the WikiLeaks Twitter account on the go has been removed from the App app store earlier today. The app used to be available here (here’s the Google cache).
From the WikiLeaks App’s description:
“The Wikileaks app gives instant access to the world’s most documented leakage of top secret memos and other confidential government documents.”
Basically the paid app was selling WikiLeaks content (available for free) for $1.99. Its entry into the app store on December 17th was actually surprising, as Apple is usually quite strict and somewhat vague about its app approval standards. WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange are quite controversial, to put it lightly but I’m not sure if the app directly violated anything in Apple’s TOS.
In the past couple of weeks corporate biggies Amazon, PayPal, Mastercard, Visa and Bank of America have all tried to disassociate themselves in one way or another from WikiLeaks. If this isn’t some kind of glitch, Apple has plenty company.
I’ve contacted both Apple and and the developer for more information and will update this post when they respond.
Thanks: Appsfire
Update: Developer Igor Barinov responds with the following official status update, showing that the app was indeed removed from sale.

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