From hacking to bad decisions, the tech industry wasn't void of controversies this year. We all know the good and bad that went on this year, but here's a look at the most controversial.
Gamergate...
What started with a relationship between game developer Zoe Quinn and Kotaku journalist Nathan Grayson, quickly escalated and became #Gamergate. Under the pretext of shining a light on corruption in gaming journalism, radical supporters of the movement severely harrased women, with even death threats being issued against them. Gamergate left a bad taste in the mouth for everyone.
Sony vs North Korea..
Speculations are that North Korea got angry over the movie, The Interview, a movie about the assassination of Kim Jong Un, the country's beloved leader. As a result, a hacker group by the name of Guardians of Peace (GOP) hacked Sony servers, stealing and releasing important data. The hackers even warned people against watching The Interview in theaters.
Of flash sales and data thefts...
Xiaomi was flying high after its successful launch in India, when the company was met with a roadblock in the form of the Indian Air Force. Reports surfaced that the IAF had issued a warning to its personnel against using Xiaomi smartphones. The matter was cleared up soon enough, with the IAF saying it was an old advisory taken out of context. Xiaomi continued its business, only to be met with another ban, this time by the Delhi High Court, in a patent infringement case filed by Ericsson. That case is on right now, but Xiaomi can't sell the Redmi Note 3G in India for the time being.
Forced to settle...
The consumer's interest was piqued with OnePlus One, but two days before the launch of the device, Cyanogen inked a deal with Micromax. The result? It won't support the OnePlus One in India, no wait it will, no wait it won't, oh forget it, Micromax filed a suit against OnePlus and got it banned from selling phones in India. It happened just yesterday, but it created enough of a splash to land a place on this list.
Big Billion fail...
Flipkart tried to replicate Black Friday in India. But the company's 'noble' initiative was marred by claims of fraud and a malfunctioning website. Many of the deals turned out to be hoaxes and the website crashes frustrated everybody, ultimately culminating in an apology message from the head of Flipkart.
The Internet is open...
The term was coined by Tim Wu, a professor from the Colombia University. It deals with the open-ness of the Internet and how governments and service providers should treat all data on the Internet equally. A big push came this year, when US President Barack Obama came out in support of Net Neutrality. But the topic has been quite controversial.
Homophobia...
Homosexuality laws in India led EA to not launch what we think was the best game this year. EA announced on November 18 that the game wouldn't be launched in India, in order to avoid 'breach of Indian content laws'. Well, we still got the game somehow, played it, loved it and even reviewed Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Pirates no more...
The most popular file sharing website was taken down by Swedish Police about a week ago. Reports say that PirateBay is not coming back up anytime soon, but we're not sure of that yet. Nevertheless, there are plenty of clones out there and existing torrent websites, like IsoHunt, have been trying to fill the void as well.
Not to be remembered...
No one wants to be remembered for their mistakes or things that makes them look bad. Google has received over 30 million deletion requests from people, under the right to be forgotten rule in Europe. The Right To Be Forgotten has been under scrutiny for its practicality and its impact on the Internet.
iHacked...
The iCloud Hack some months ago left a lot of celebrities red-faced and angry. It also showed that Apple's not as secure as people thought it was. While the company said iCloud isn't to be blamed for the hack, we're not certain how many believed that.
Bend it like Apple..
Right after the new iPhones were launched, it came to light that the iPhone 6 Plus bends under regular usage. Apple initially said that it had received only nine such complaints, but that has gone up to 600 and possibly more by now. The company faced ridicule from competitors and frustration from users. To top it all off, some people started testing the credibility of this allegation in Apple Stores, resulting in more bent and unsold iPhone 6 Plus units.
Believe in karma, don't ask for a raise...
Does the corporate world really believe in karma? Well, new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella thinks so. When asked to advice women who are uncomfortable asking for a raise, Nadella said they shouldn't ask for one, which would result in good karma and show their bosses that they deserve one. Needless to say, the stupid comment generated plenty of criticism and resulted in an apology from Nadella.
Unwelcome freebies..
Does everyone like Apple? Check. Does everyone like U2? Apparently not. Apple's 'giveaway' of the new U2 album wasn't well received by many iTunes users and while Bono himself apologised, Apple had to give users a way to remove the album from their libraries.
Buy phones online but...
Some time ago, before the 'online exclusive' model was popular in the smartphone market, there was a controversy. Companies like Sony and LG suddenly came out saying phones bought off Flipkart and other e-commerce websites wouldn't come with a warranty. Needless to say, users were irked. It happened this year, but seems like the distant past now.
Paying the right way...
Uber dodged a ban once, when the RBI held it up for its payment system. The RBI said credit card payments can't be made without authentication. Uber dodged that bullet by collaborating with PayTM. Little did it know, that it had much bigger issues coming.