http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222280/Apple_s_Siri_balks_at_abortion_queries_pro_choice_advocates_charge
Apple's Siri balks at abortion queries, pro-choice advocates charge
Virtual petition urges Apple to update the iPhone 4S' personal assistant
By Gregg Keizer
November 30, 2011 02:24 PM ET
Computerworld - Pro-choice advocates have accused Apple's new Siri voice-activated assistant of refusing to locate family planning or abortion clinics, and have kicked off a petition urging Apple to update Siri.
Siri, the virtual assistant integrated into Apple's new iPhone 4S, frequently declines to locate local abortion clinics or help find information about contraception, pro-choice supporters have said on multiple blogs.
Even when more traditional searches -- conducted by entering text in Google -- locate nearby clinics, Siri claims it knows nothing, those blogs said.
"Even searching by specific clinic names, and then with their street names, turned up nothing," wrote one blogger on the Abortioneers.com website Tuesday. "[But] searching for a specific hardware store brought results."
Another Abortioneers.com blogger smelled a rat, or at least a possible conspiracy.
"At minimum, this is incredibly fishy," the blogger said in an entry last Sunday. "I can't help but feel that something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
Abortioneers.com launched a petition drive on Change.org asking Apple to add more sources for family planning services, contraception, abortion and sexual assault victims to Siri's database.
The petition had been signed by more than 1,000 people as of mid-day Wednesday.
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