Apple Says No to Porn, Kinda
Pornography is a multibillion dollar industry, but you won’t find it on your iphone, at least not officially. Several sites, include Techland.com (a subsidiary of Time) reported a series of emails between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and one unsatisfied customer, Ryan Tate. In the emails Tate asks Jobs what he think Bob Dylan (a hero of Jobs’) would think about Apple:
Tate:
If Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company? Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with “revolution?” Revolutions are about freedom.
Jobs:
Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’, and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is.
Tate:
“And you know what? I don’t want “freedom from porn.” Porn is just fine! And I think my wife would agree.”
Jobs writes simply, “you might care more about porn when you have kids.”
I was pleasantly surprised by Jobs’ comments. I certainly didn’t see that coming. It pretty unusual to see someone outside of the church come down against porn. I applaud Jobs’ effort to keep porn out of the hands of children – many of whom do have access to iphones. I know in my family all the adults have them and when we get together, only a few minutes will pass before one of the kids asks “Uncle Gord, can I play on your phone?”
I do appreciate the effort, but on closer inspection the no porn stance gets a little fuzzy. Jobs claims not to be interested in selling pornography, but Wired Magazine reports that there is a Playboy app for sale. I’m not sure I understand the difference.
Does Apple have the right, or even the responsibility to govern what can and cannot be sold in the App store?
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Tags: apple, in the news, pornography, steve jobs, technology, World
I think it’s a great idea that Apple governs it. There’s a reason you can’t buy porn in a grocery store (at least where I live). It’s because children and their families shop there. I don’t see why the app store should be any different. I don’t want my 13 year old sister to be able to access that kind of stuff when I give her an iTunes card for her birthday. Interestingly, the playboy app on the iTunes store seems to be marketed as a “lifestyle” app, and while it’s rated 18+ for sexuality/nudity, the reviews are all negative due to an apparent lack of nudity in this porn app. I guess they expect people to read playboy for the articles?