Grey Singapore’s Bronze Lion winning ‘I Sea’ app comes under fire as Apple iTunes withdraws app

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I Sea app.jpgGrey Group Singapore’s Bronze Lion win in the Promo + Activation Lions has come under fire following Apple iTunes decision to pull the app from their store. The ‘I Sea’ app has come under investigation over the past 24 hours following criticism of the app first raised by @SwiftOnSecurity, who tested the app.

Media reports today have called the app a “fake” and “bogus”

Mashable, who were a media outlet to first cover the launch of the app, also reported that Apple has pulled the app. The Register, a UK IT blog covered the story this morning with the headline: “Sea of outrage after ‘migrant-spotting app’ turned out to be bogus”.

And in response Grey has posted an statement on their website saying that the app is in “testing mode”.

I sea.jpgGrey’s statement is as follows: “On World Refugee Day, Grey for Good wants to thank all those who are helping us develop the I SEA app. I SEA – an app developed by Grey for Good in support of MOAS – aims to bring humanitarian and technological efforts together in order to have a concrete impact on the continued refugee crisis at sea. Currently in its testing period, the app is a tool which crowdsources the ability to scan the sea for migrant vessels in distress. With global forced displacement having reached an all-time high (65.3 million people at the end of 2015), any efforts to help those fleeing war and persecution are greatly welcomed.

 

“The I SEA App is currently in a testing mode. At this time it is loading and mapping satellite images to its GPS coordinates and users are able to report an anomaly in their plot of sea. The report function is sending out an alert whenever a user flags something in the plot of sea they are watching. During this testing period, the satellite images available are not in real-time. Grey for Good are still working to optimise the technology, but we are proud of what we have achieved so far and are grateful to all those who have shown interest in helping to improve the app further. The continued interest and suggestions from people who have already tried it around the world, especially on this, World Refugee Day, are all valued opinions which will be incorporated into the final product.”

Perhaps the most damning is a statement released by a client spokesperson, The Migrant Offshore Aid Network, this morning:

“The Migrant Offshore Aid Network did not develop the app with Grey for Good nor do we feel that there [are] any advantages to having the public scan old sat images for potential disasters that in reality unfold in seconds.”

“MOAS has performed life and death rescues in real time using two ships, commercial drones and Search and Rescue Crews in the Central Mediterranean since 2014. The majority of our rescues are coordinated in real time from the Rome Rescue Coordination Center in which MOAS often takes the lead. Saving lives is a serious business, with serious consequences for not maintaining the highest standards of professionalism.

“All we can say on the developers’ behalf is that the App probably sounded interesting in concept form but failed miserably in execution. We were asked to support the launch of the app in concept only. So we were included in a press release,” added the spokesperson.

UPDATE: The client has further added this quote in a story in The Guardian: “We were dismayed to discover that real time images were not being used. We have since discontinued our relationship with Grey for Good and spoken candidly about our disappointment to the media.”

@SwiftOnSecurity , who first started questioning the app, has been tweeting about the failures of the app since she started testing it. She also tweeted about Grey’s Lion win this morning.

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