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CTIA: Should the U.S. Government Regulate Mobile App Stores?

This simmering issue was brought up by Sybase CEO John Chen during his keynote speech Tuesday morning at the CTIA conference in San Francisco.As reported by the Washington Post, Chen said that "advocacy groups" are pushing the government to regulate mobile app stores.

This simmering issue was brought up by Sybase CEO John Chen during his keynote speech Tuesday morning at the CTIA conference in San Francisco. As reported by the Washington Post, Chen said that "advocacy groups" are pushing the government to regulate mobile app stores.

Chen didn't cite any sources, nor did he go into much more specifics during his 20 minute speech. But he was clear about his opposition, linking federal agencies such as the FCC, FTC, and FDIC with other words that begin with the letter 'F' that were always "trouble" in his book.

Chen is no conspiracy theorist. In Australia, the government is looking to slap ratings on mobile games similar to those on adult-themed PC video games or movies.

In the U.S., the FDA is looking whether to regulate medical apps like the iStethoscope, which uses your iPhone's microphone to measure your heartbeat.

Increased regulation could be about more than just rating mobile app content. There have been calls for governmental policing of app store reviews, since they are so crucial for helping customers choose (and so easily faked)

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Should the government get involved in regulating or even censoring mobile apps?

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