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posted by janrinok on Sunday August 07 2016, @04:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the giving-it-their-best-shot dept.

[...] The Emojipedia website argued that the symbol could still appear as a lifelike gun in messages sent to non-iOS users. Apple made the change in the wake of a series of shootings in the US.

However, Microsoft announced this week that its toy gun symbol would be redesigned as a more realistic-looking firearm. The emoji character system allows companies to use slightly different designs of the same basic objects, signs or expressions.

"The thing is, emojis already look different on different platforms and it does cause confusion," Jeremy Burge, editor of Emojipedia, told the BBC. "When we're dealing with guns and toys as a comparison, that's a whole new level of problems that we have there."

[...] "Apple has the most prominent emoji set that people use," said Mr Burge. "I think it has a high responsibility to be a bit cautious."

There was further criticism from web users, but a columnist in the Guardian praised the move as a statement on gun control.

"It's a smart, small part in the battle - which we're presently losing - to keep Americans safe," wrote Jean Hannah Edelstein. There have been calls previously - including from a campaign called Disarm the iPhone - to remove the handgun icon from iOS devices.

[...] Both Apple and Microsoft have said they are working with the Unicode Consortium - the body that maintains lists of emojis across different platforms.


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday August 07 2016, @03:59PM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Sunday August 07 2016, @03:59PM (#384989) Journal

    This is modded funny, but take a gander here: https://www.rt.com/usa/334041-student-emoji-message-charges/ [rt.com]

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  • (Score: 1) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday August 07 2016, @11:03PM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday August 07 2016, @11:03PM (#385074) Journal

    Exactly. Whenever you think the government won't react over a cartoon caricature of a weapon, just remember this [techdirt.com]. (For those who don't want to bother with the link -- the TSA actually provided a tiny cartoon "bomb" paperweight photo that looks like something used by Wile E. Coyote as an example of an item that "looks like a real bomb" and could be prohibited by the TSA and even "can cause significant delays because the explosive detection professionals must resolve the alarm to determine the level of threat.")