Apple changes App Store policy on 'overtly sexual content' - Page 4

Well put! As do I- now if you will excuse me, instead of looking at some perverted weird porn crap, I'm going to go spend time with my beautiful wife.

Another good comment. I agree with you, and as far as I am concerned the perverts who enjoy porn can stay the fuck away from my family or take a bat to the head!

A much better analogy (and in my eyes a more defensible action than Apple's) would be if Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo announced a ban on new violent games for their gaming systems. People who like to shoot stuff might feel like they were stuck with a device that no longer allowed them to do what they had previously been allowed to, apart from using their existing games. The companies could probably do this from a legal standpoint, and there is certainly a "moral" argument for it, but I think there would be an uproar, and rightly so.

In most cases, it's a vocal activist minority, not necessarily representative of any community or user base they claim to represent.


Apple's policy isn't going to make any difference as to where the perverts are relative to your family.

Well put and I agree 100%.

Can't you just get porn for your family of 5 off the internet like every other family?

Read my bookshelf analogy a page or two back.

Whether it's sex toys or groceries, what happens when a store has a monopoly, and an entire community is dependent on it?

Try this scenario:

Consumer: What happened to your soup section? I'd like to buy some soup.
Store: We don't carry soup anymore. We don't need to give a reason why.
Consumer: But I bought some here just last week...?
Store: Tough. No soup for you.

It's precisely this situation that gets targeted, by big names moving into town with lower prices and much better selection. Apple would do well to study this, because others in the industry certainly are.

The title for my post was "learn what censorship is". In it I was quoting someone elses comment( I think).
I'm all for consumer uproars though. One difference in your analogy is that there is a long history for game systems like Sony and even an established rating system. Although aside from that the question for a business becomes which uproar do you side with, the puritans or the perverts. Since there isn't a large established history of making quality apps for the perverts I suspect apple is trying to appeal to the puritans and figuring the perverts will go with web apps or just web sites. Seems to be the likely sweet spot and since the original mac came out in '84 SJ's goal has always seemed to focus on getting computing power in front of as many people as possible/ average users. Personally I wouldn't mind having an adult section of the app store as long as it had good catagory defination since my preference for apps of that nature of course lean towards a more artistic nature... of course ;^)
then again if my iPhone itself was shaped like a boob I'm sure I'd be more likely to answer calls EVERY time it rings.

This seems to be a good argument for keeping violent games off of all platforms.

All this political morality police crap could be done away with if they allowed unsigned apps with a run at you own risk disclaimer

There needs to be an adult app section with different levels of parental control and access. App store should be free market for any kind of app that developers want to create. Could you imagine how lame the Internet would be if it had the same restrictions that the app store had. I think anyone complaining should be forced to move to China. Do we really want apple to dictate what we get to see on the app store. If apple doesn't wise up they will lose market share sooner or later to an open source invironment. It's only a matter of time before the playing field is even and the consumer will move towards a free market invironment. Apple controlling everything will hurt them in the long run, right now it's working but 10 years from now things will change if they continue to determine what the users can do with their phones.

Furthermore, you would kill someone in line at the store for what they do in the
privacy of their own home but have no problem using vulgar language and graphic physical threats on a public forum accessible by children?
Way to lead by example.

Edit: I'm guessing maybe your underlying point is that your one tough hombre and the world should do as
you say, not as you do. Message recieved.

No because it runs off FLASH and the Steve Poppins hates Flash.

<delete>

"What about the children? It's all about the children! "
Parents don't buy your kids adult toys. END OF STORY.

I'm all about parental responsibility. At the risk of encouraging someone who doesn't usually bring anything very worthwhile to the table: should apple position the iPhone as an adult toy?

There's lots of porn that doesn't run on flash, er um so I've been told.
Nice troll though.
FWIW the
person you quoted had the most wry comment I read today.

4 pages of posts complaining about not being able to download Wobble iBoobs from the app store.

Oh the humanity!

Really though, this is all very much over the top in my view. Apple is not looking to play the role of anyone's mother here, in fact it really has nothing to do with morals at all. It's all about Apple acting to protect the value of its single most valuable asset.

Its brand image.

Think about it for a moment. Apple has spent millions of dollars over the last several years re-building its brand after what happened to the company's image in the 90's. It's a family friendly image that they are trying to maintain. They very much want to appeal to young people and families with children, for obvious reasons.

The last thing they want to be associated with is selling pornography.

I know, Wobble iBoobs isn't pornography. But the whole "adult content" deal is a slippery slope, ie, "what is the definition of pornography, I don't know but I know it when I see it" debate.

Apple is erring on the side of caution in protecting their brand image. They are taking the highest road, and as a shareholder, I believe they are doing the right thing and applaud them for that.

About damn time. It wasn't doing much for Apple's image, anyway.

That's a pretty big family. Might be more economical to buy their porn in bulk. Ya know, by the gross.

I go to the Photography Apps and what do I find but loads of sexy guy and gilr apps that are just picture packages. My GF hates porn and I just hate wading through all the crap. I will be glad to see it go.

So Apple must have somebody that is willing to go through all the mess entering the app store. Imagine, first you have this app that is what people call soft porn. Sure some reviewers that are offended by the material have already indicated that they do not want to test the apps. Then Apple could choose to split up the team. The ones who do and the ones who don't. Then the ones who do get more and more porn in. Rich porn companies are pushing these apps with hardcore porn to the app store as they are being accepted. Then you get such a content that it breaks american laws or are just so sick that even the general citizen would be offended by the material . Apple could also move to a model where they only check the code. However, checking the code cannot ensure that an app that is not indicated as 17+ is not porn. You still need reviewers for this job. I remember the news that apple denies repairing computers from smokers because of hazardous toxins for the employee.

I think that Apple wants to distance themselves from perverted dirty masturbating guys who are imagining to have sex with a woman they don't know and cannot touch. All they know is that the woman is a whore (some call her a porn-star) whom has been consumed (yes consumed) by millions of men. I think Apple is a company that believes it makes more money by keeping the app store clean (yes clean) than by letting it be overrun by multi-bilion dollar companies.

And to all the confused folks out there that think that I think that sex, per definition, is dirty really are confused. I don't think sex is dirty at all. However, I am the type of guy that believes that sex is something to be practiced within a relationship with a person you love. Now I might have already mentioned some alien concepts for some. Relationship and love. I probably have lost 80% of the readers by now. Thus I will stop here.

You're trying to infer things I never said whatsoever. As is plain to see, the suggestions that you raise, learned one, are your own.

It is surprising how much porn is freely available on iPhones by entering a few words into the search field in Safari, sort of like going to the sex shop in the alley behind the supermarket.

Apple is based in America, part of their responsibility is pandering to vocal nutters who carry a big stick, in fact a lot of American politics has to pander to the same groups of vocal nutters.

Otherwise their prospects will be deader than a Presidential candidate caught out having sex with an intern.

It's an unfortunate fact of American life that they have to deal with..

So here's a test for you.

Say a developer wanted to sell a "Find a Child for sex" App.

According to you they should be entitled to do so.

LINES MUST BE DRAWN.

It's where those lines lie that creates the dilemma for Apple.

btw is that the same Internet that is freely accessible from Apple devices?

Anyone that would have pr0n on their iPhone has issues anyway.

Personally, I only enjoy my adult fare on Blu-Ray, running on a 100" screen, in surround sound

The problem with BlueRay is that the deluge of clarity of various blemishes, spots, shaving rashes and wrinkles distracts and detracts from the experience.

This is one area where HD is not worthwhile.

Not that I'd know, I just heard it somewhere.

It's not. I've seen young kids, maybe five or so years old, handle iPhones/Touches surprisingly well. It really depends on the individual. Also, the iPhone has age/content restriction controls.

I have nothing against the low level nudity that most of these apps represent; however I let my 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter use my iPhone to read their ebooks and play games, so it is my responsibility as the owner of the iPhone and the Apple account to leave these sorts of apps off my iPhone.

My personal annoyance is that there is plenty of support for violent games/apps but heaven forbid if there is something with any level of nudity involved. Look, we are generally talking about the lowest level of nudity you can have, I struggle to see how this is "porn".

Once again it is a very American point of view - blowing someones head off is fine, but the outrage over seeing naked breasts is amazing. I happen to live in a country where people still are able to sunbake topless on the beach if they so desire without the population falling over in a faint at the sight of naked skin and for me "nudity" as opposed to "porn" is not something to worry overly much about.

If Apple is going to censor low level nudity, why isn't Apple censoring the higher levels of violence in games. They give you an age warning but don't block that content (I just looked up one of these sorts of games, Assasins Creed, and it is labeled "Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence" and is rated "OK" for 12yrs old up). Lesson from that:
Violence = OK, COOL, FUN
Nudity = WRONG, MORALLY CORRUPTING
This is just a warped perspective on the world!!

Besides, all that these app developers have to do is take the Google approach to Apples censorship of the apps and move to a web app so at the end of the day the content will still be accessible, but less manageable.

Just a reminder, if you didn't know this already, Apple also gives you parental control tools in the iTunes preferences, and within the iPhone.

Apple's entitled to lock up their ecosystem as much as they want. If they go too far, then people will seek out alternatives. That's just how it goes. Apple's shareholders had better pray Jobs is making the right call with his new censorship drive.

thanks for posting this.

My thoughts exactly and it's nice to see that not everyone has the same twisted American point of view on morality.

Excellent move, there is no need to have any overtly sexual apps. These wobble boobs, leering at women applications are disgusting and support the exploitation of women (and also men). It is absolutely wrong and has no place on the app store.

I agree that violent games are not suitable for children but they are not exploiting people.

First it's nudity. Next it'll be violence. Just wait till a bunch of soccer moms get vocal about all violent games their kids are downloading on their iPhones and iTouchs.

To lose something, you must first have it.

Or you are lying.

I would be interested in what you meant. It certainly sounded like you were saying that Apple wasn't complying with the laws of the land.

The average soccer mom is probably too hooked on soft-porn teen vampire books to notice...

This post is a perfect example of the kind of nutters that Apple is kow-towing too with this move. Just because people believe insane nonsense like this in large numbers, that's no reason to give in to it.

I also find it ironic that it's religious folks like this that violate the forum rules all the time on advertising. Apparently it's okay to put spam links in your posts if they lead to "good Christian sites?" What does that say about the morals of people like this when they have respect for what they believe is "right" but don't give a crap about what is considered "right" by the net community?

Religion = hypocrisy IMO. If you want to see "evil" just look in the mirror.

How about all the normal folks who enjoy porn?

I see Apple making many of the same mistakes as AOL. They drove consumers away with their policies.