Apple isn't a common carrier so it would seem to be free to chart the path it believes to be in the best interests of its shareholders. Content curation has been part of their approach from the early days of the app store. This could turn out to be an interesting point of distinction compared to Amazon's store. As a bookseller Amazon has inherited a different set of norms about neutrality with regard to content. As app stores evolve into a replacement for TV this topic may come to a head ...

Presumably Google and Facebook, being ad-driven businesses, are making certain value judgments about the acceptability of targeted advertisements. As the technology for targeted advertising advances, it will be possible to use these channels to direct fully personalized political messages to individual voters in an efficient, automated manner. It might be costly to win the ad auction when you're ready to buy a new car, but comparatively cheap to ping you daily with exactly the "right" political messages to achieve the buyer's objectives. Should these expentidures be subject to regulation? What is the future of personalized advertising as political speech? Consider this in the context of the Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford Memo. Assume that the advertising platform enables them to deliver a perfectly crafted message to every (opposition) voter, at minimal cost compared to broadcast campaigns. How well can an ad-hoc, neutral/impartial voter information guide compete with that? I suspect it depends on the voter's motivation to learn the truth. The odds aren't in Truth's favor ...

RE: The Personal Computer Is Dead - Technology Review