More iPhone App Controversy with Alleged Underaged Nudity [Archive]

MacRumors

Jul 2, 2009, 02:30 PM

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/07/02/more-iphone-app-controversy-with-alleged-underaged-nudity/)

Wired reports (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/beautymeter/) on the latest high profile app removal from the App Store related to nudity. This time, a free app called BeautyMeter (http://appshopper.com/social-networking/beautymeter) was removed due to an inappropriate image appearing of nude minor. The photo ... depicts a photo of a nude girl snapping a photo of her reflection in a mirror. In the screenshot, the girl, who is listed as a 15-year-old from the United StatesBeautyMeter is an app that functions similarly to Hot or Not (http://www.hotornot.com/) and allows users to upload their own photos to be rated by others. The developers of the application do not review each uploaded photo, so there appears to be no particular filter for content. They do claim that each photo is tagged with each iPhone's unique ID so that illegal content can be traced back to the owner of the phone, however.

Apple has not commented, but the app has been pulled from the App Store. According a lawyer cited in the article, neither Apple nor the developers are likely liable for the content: Funnymals and Apple will probably not be held liable for the content because they would be protected by the Communications Decency Act, according to Mark Rasch, a lawyer and founder of computer security consulting firm Secure IT Experts. That’s because when Apple approved the app, it did not contain the prohibited content. Instead, the app downloads images off the internet, thus placing the responsibility on the people who use the app

Article Link: More iPhone App Controversy with Alleged Underaged Nudity (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/07/02/more-iphone-app-controversy-with-alleged-underaged-nudity/)

TuffLuffJimmy

Jul 2, 2009, 02:31 PM

you spelled beauty wrong in the app description.

And it's too bad Apple will let this through, but pulls the plug on NetShare.

arn

Jul 2, 2009, 02:34 PM

you spelled beauty wrong in the app description.

And it's too bad Apple will let this through, but pulls the plug on NetShare.

well, apple did let both through and then pulled the plug on both. :)

arn

TuffLuffJimmy

Jul 2, 2009, 02:35 PM

well, apple did let both through and then pulled the plug on both. :)

arn

That's true. It just seems like the process, as many have pointed out, is a little out of whack.

Compile 'em all

Jul 2, 2009, 02:36 PM

With the review process being a freakin black box with no clear guidelines these stories will continue. According to Ethan Nicolas the dev of iShoot, Apple have been sitting on his app for close to 2 effing months. The avg. approval for updates is now 20 days. WTF!!

dscuber9000

Jul 2, 2009, 02:37 PM

I'm confused. Isn't there a blanket ban on nudity on the iPhone App Store? Or with the new app rating system, is nudity allowed and this app was only pulled because it had a minor in it?

You would think Apple would have a blanket ban on nudity to avoid bad publicity. Who puts porn on their phone, anyway? You take it to public places!

ltldrummerboy

Jul 2, 2009, 02:38 PM

branjosef

Jul 2, 2009, 02:39 PM

g00dbye

Jul 2, 2009, 02:39 PM

Pics or it didn't happen.

Drumjim85

Jul 2, 2009, 02:41 PM

Pics or it didn't happen.

the linked article in the story has a picture.

TurboSC

Jul 2, 2009, 02:43 PM

knowing you have an app with user submitted content, why wouldn't someone review it before it went online... that's just beyond stupid on the developers part.

ChoMomma

Jul 2, 2009, 02:47 PM

knowing you have an app with user submitted content, why wouldn't someone review it before it went online... that's just beyond stupid on the developers part.

Knowing that the app is all about user submitted content, why not let the users police the content? mmmm... perhaps a link/button for "remove this content as inappropriate or illegal"

Ironduke

Jul 2, 2009, 02:48 PM

Dirty Filthy Beggars!:mad:

rpaloalto

Jul 2, 2009, 02:50 PM

screen shots of Hot or Not
http://www.xsellize.com/showthread.php?t=47880

kamiboy

Jul 2, 2009, 02:51 PM

Ah, kids today... tis a great age to live in for sure.

TuffLuffJimmy

Jul 2, 2009, 02:54 PM

Why can't they just call this app what it is? Girls with Low Self-esteem.

ChoMomma

Jul 2, 2009, 02:55 PM

screen shots of Hot or Not
http://www.xsellize.com/showthread.php?t=47880

That could definitely be used to kill downtime while sitting in traffic

MacVixen

Jul 2, 2009, 02:55 PM

Yet nothing about the girl's role in posting a nude photo of herself to the app. Oh that's right she cant possibly be blamed because she is a minor and therefore exempt from any level of responsibility for her actions.

Ain't that the truth. Poor helpless child I'm sure was *competely* innocent in uploading a nude photo of herself :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, another website, headlines the story as Apple has suddenly entered the child pornography business :rolleyes:

53buick

Jul 2, 2009, 02:56 PM

what the hell kind of pointless app is that anyways?

ChoMomma

Jul 2, 2009, 02:58 PM

what the hell kind of pointless app is that anyways?

Just like the pointless websites that inspired them.

gcmexico

Jul 2, 2009, 03:02 PM

The Samurai

Jul 2, 2009, 03:05 PM

lol

nice to see these stories making it to the front page [not].

3NV7

Jul 2, 2009, 03:10 PM

Morals and laws aside, it seems like bad business for Apple to let apps like these in. Between the risk of incidents like this and right-wing outrage I would think they'd just deny all "raunchy" apps.

The left is *just* as capable of faux "outrage", particularly when they can beat the "think of the children" drum.

iCantwait

Jul 2, 2009, 03:21 PM

lol, jailbait in more ways then one:p

gr8whtd0pe

Jul 2, 2009, 03:22 PM

That pic wasn't even taken with an iPhone, Who knows how old the girl really is or where the original image came from.

ltldrummerboy

Jul 2, 2009, 03:27 PM

The left is *just* as capable of faux "outrage", particularly when they can beat the "think of the children" drum.

This is true.

nkawtg72

Jul 2, 2009, 03:27 PM

the child porn aspect aside for a moment. am i the only one here that thinks all this hype is pretty hypocritical.

everyone out there who has an iPhone, or a computer for that matter, has bought into the porn industry and is running an application to access it. ITS CALLED A WEB BROWSER!!!!

i find it pretty arrogant on Apple's part to think they're doing the Lord's work providing Safari on the iPhone and allowing it to browse porn sites, but then they come down on developers for trying to provide apps that give direct access.

last time i checked, theres no RATING on Safari, but devs have to rate their apps. seems to me the devs are being more responsible than Apple with this one.

if you dont want to see porn or dont like porn, dont browse the web to porn sites and dont download risque apps from the app store.

i think Apple can do what it wants with its products, thats their right. but for them to try and come off like the Moral Police when all their products are able to provide access to it unrestricted, is a little ridiculous.

as for the child porn part. if that same picture had popped up in safari doing a google search or something, no one would have written an article about that. everyone knows child porn is wrong. if you come across it, you should report it. apps in the app store should be no different. they should stop trying to censor the content and focus on the platform. then as questionable, illegal, content arises deal with it like you would if it were something a person came across in their web browser.

ive obviously not counted, but theres a ton of movies available for rent and purchase in iTunes, that have nudity. apple doesnt seem to have a problem distributing that.

hypocrites.

funkdis

Jul 2, 2009, 03:29 PM

being a virgin I NEED THIS APP TO SUCCESSED IN LIFE Why wont apple help me :(

Hattig

Jul 2, 2009, 03:29 PM

nkawtg72

Jul 2, 2009, 03:35 PM

Meh, 15 years old is hardly a "child". Too young for me, but I'm sure plenty of 16 and 17 year olds would be perfectly happy with it. I think a lot of people forget what they were like when they were teenagers, and modern technology has just taken it further.

ain't that the truth. the way people are jumping on this, you'd think they showered with a blindfold on, because they would be embarrassed to see themselves naked.

puffnstuff

Jul 2, 2009, 03:36 PM

So instead of contacting the kids parents they pull the app. Brilliant idea!:rolleyes:

dejo

Jul 2, 2009, 03:37 PM

BeautyMeter has been avoiding the nudity wrath for quite some time now, months really. While their update gets approved and reviews applaud its "now with nudity" capability, all the Craigslist app updates have been rejected for channeling "objectionable content" and have been forced to remove Personals by the review team (we'll see if they return with the Parental Controls). If Apple wants to not distribute apps with nudity, fine; their choice. All I ask is that there be some consistency as to what's approved and what isn't.

Unfortunately, this Daring Fireball post (http://daringfireball.net/2009/05/diary_of_an_app_store_reviewer) probably is more true than you'd expect.

Stella

Jul 2, 2009, 03:37 PM

Get over it - do people / apple whine so much when someone see's nudity on an Apple computer, or any computer for that matter? No.

No difference between viewing the same stuff on an Apple computer. Same media, just different platform.

Smartphones are just less powerful computers.

billchase2

Jul 2, 2009, 03:55 PM

That pic wasn't even taken with an iPhone, Who knows how old the girl really is or where the original image came from.
Exactly. I think this whole thing is stupid. This was just some random photo that someone posted on there, trying to get comments/ratings. It was probably some middle aged guy who found the photo on some message board and thought he'd put down the age of 15 on it.

There are plenty of other photo swapping apps in the App Store that have nudity, so I guess I just don't really understand why this is such a big deal.

DELLsFan

Jul 2, 2009, 06:18 PM

Frazzle

Jul 2, 2009, 06:21 PM

Oh dear! Picture of a naked girl! Yikes! Porn! Outrage! Off with their heads!
Glad that app is gone.

Now let's fire up Doom and put a chainsaw in some poor creature's head.

macUser2007

Jul 2, 2009, 06:48 PM

Oh dear! Picture of a naked girl! Yikes! Porn! Outrage! Off with their heads!
Glad that app is gone.

Now let's fire up Doom and put a chainsaw in some poor creature's head.

LOL. Ain't that the truth....

Moral/religious zealots can now sleep tight, knowing that no naked humans are seen on their phone....

... and focus their attention on en electronic version of their "holy" book, savoring the graphic descriptions of sadistic tortures visited on the infidels, by their deity.

:confused:

branjosef

Jul 2, 2009, 06:58 PM

I don't know...what's wrong with these kids? I'm no one to preach morality, but there's just something wrong with young girls thinking this is cool...I'm a high school teacher, and I can guarantee you that most of the girls in my high school would do this and think it's awesome....it's just weird...if I had a daughter I would die if she posted herself like that

Maybe if producers stop making television shows like the OC, privileged, the hills, and gossip girl, young girls would stop thinking that being a high school slut who is rich, materialistic and entitled is cool. Great time to be a teenage boy though. When I wanted girls like that I had to date strippers which was costly (at first)

MacSlut

Jul 2, 2009, 07:20 PM

I'm very much against child porn, and believe people who engage in it should be aggressively pursued and severely punished.

However, how is this app really all that different from pretty much any other app that allows you to view images on the iPhone. You'd have to remove Safari, Flickr, YouTube, MMS (oops, nevermind here in the US we're already ok on with that one).

The app allows people to be tracked down. That's a good thing. Plus users can report abuse.

It seems like they are being overly cautious at the expense of common sense here.

manhattanboy

Jul 2, 2009, 07:35 PM

That pic wasn't even taken with an iPhone, Who knows how old the girl really is or where the original image came from.

How did u see the pic?
Am i missing something? :confused::confused::confused:

manhattanboy

Jul 2, 2009, 07:37 PM

being a virgin I NEED THIS APP TO SUCCESSED IN LIFE Why wont apple help me :(

LOL!!!!

rhett7660

Jul 2, 2009, 07:55 PM

How did u see the pic?
Am i missing something? :confused::confused::confused:

There was a link on page one.

My question, was the pic packaged with the app? or is this something somebody did after the app was already out?

Mark Booth

Jul 2, 2009, 08:06 PM

MacFly123

Jul 2, 2009, 08:21 PM

I hate stupid sites like that. How sad has the landscape of our teens and self-esteem and or narcissism really gotten? :( :rolleyes:

iBeast

Jul 2, 2009, 08:56 PM

Arn,

You're really pathetic for posting this "story" on the front page. Obviously all you want to page views since you have no other real job besides this site. Innocent until proven guilty? This is speculation. Just as me accusing Arn of being a child molestor is speculation with no proof.

There is no proof that the girl is underage.
The same exact thing comes from Safari.
This has happened a 1000 times before.

Seriously, you need some quality control. Please close this thead or take it off the news section.

Thanks.

iVoid

Jul 2, 2009, 09:01 PM

Since the person(s) that shared the nude photos of underage girls can apparently be easily identified, they can probably expect a knock on the door from a representative of their local police department!

Mark

You're probably right. The hysteria about 'child porn' these days has people brandishing their pitchforks at everything even remotely smelling like child porn. Hope they never find the naked butt pictures of me as a baby. :P

Ironically, the shown picture on Wired wouldn't be illegal or considered 'child porn'. The Supreme court has repeatedly ruled that simple nudity isn't pornography or obscene, regardless of the age of the people.

Wouldn't stop some overzealous cop or prosecutor from going after whoever posted it, of course.

As for the app being pulled: Might as well pull Safari then. Much worse things can be found on the Internet with it than this stupid little app.

I'd say use the ratings system now in place and let the adults decide what they want to see using their own minds and let the parents decide what they want their kids to see. Banning apps that can access user generated content isn't going to do anything other than lull some people into a false sense of security.

nkawtg72

Jul 2, 2009, 09:05 PM

You're probably right. The hysteria about 'child porn' these days has people brandishing their pitchforks at everything even remotely smelling like child porn. Hope they never find the naked butt pictures of me as a baby. :P

Ironically, the shown picture on Wired wouldn't be illegal or considered 'child porn'. The Supreme court has repeatedly ruled that simple nudity isn't pornography or obscene, regardless of the age of the people.

Wouldn't stop some overzealous cop or prosecutor from going after whoever posted it, of course.

As for the app being pulled: Might as well pull Safari then. Much worse things can be found on the Internet with it than this stupid little app.

I'd say use the ratings system now in place and let the adults decide what they want to see using their own minds and let the parents decide what they want their kids to see. Banning apps that can access user generated content isn't going to do anything other than lull some people into a false sense of security.

well said

dnguyen

Jul 2, 2009, 09:22 PM

The US in general is too concerned with these issues, but that is another problem

spaceboots06

Jul 2, 2009, 09:22 PM

That app reminds me of YoHottie. That app was SOOO funny!!!

roski11

Jul 2, 2009, 10:03 PM

How did u see the pic?
Am i missing something? :confused::confused::confused:

The chick was hot, I really doubt she was 15. It was all censored though.

Ryan.Donnelly

Jul 2, 2009, 10:12 PM

seriously who cares if some whore posted a picture if herself to get rated on beautymeter... apple needs to pretty much grow up. and in my opinion there are probably more adults that use iphones then children

windywoo

Jul 2, 2009, 10:17 PM

What happens if someone uses the Facebook app to upload pictures of his kids in the bath? Would that get banned too?

conman16

Jul 2, 2009, 10:38 PM

I agree roski. She is hot too bad it's censored lol.
Btw I'm 16 so that ***** isn't messed up or anything lol

iMaggot

Jul 2, 2009, 11:42 PM

Why don't they make an App store section for adults only :confused:

FX120

Jul 3, 2009, 12:58 AM

talkin73

Jul 3, 2009, 03:28 AM

LOL. Ain't that the truth....

Moral/religious zealots can now sleep tight, knowing that no naked humans are seen on their phone....

... and focus their attention on en electronic version of their "holy" book, savoring the graphic descriptions of sadistic tortures visited on the infidels, by their deity.

:confused:

Agree with other posters that there is obviously what appears on the surface to be double-standards. My guess as to the motivating factor? Money! Apple, like all other companies in a capitalist society, is motivated by the bottom line. While I don't condone this perspective, I obviously participate in it as a US citizen, so not exempting myself or implying a moral high ground. It is a little confusing that people are so frustrated by what seems to be such an obvious answer. Apple isn't in the business of making morality, integrity and consistency the primary focus... money is their primary focus. They may try to integrate those other things into their business practice, but it would see unlikely that they (or any other company, for that matter) will choose those above what they believe will allow them to most effectively maintain financial viability. I could be wrong but this decision seems quite in keeping with the ultimate desire to balance all factors with the hope of improving their bottom line.

Something else I don't really understand and welcome feedback (uh-oh, here it comes ;-)... neither Apple nor the article on MacForums has made any mention of religion being a factor in their decision yet the post above, like several others seems to contain the implication (along with significant disdain) for religion and the bible. How did those two things get linked to this article about Apple's App Store choices and review process?

digiguy23

Jul 3, 2009, 04:52 AM

I agree with Apple not allowing porn apps, but i disagree with this one. This app is not porn or nudity intended. Some people just like to abuse the system. Like everyone is saying. Safari bla bla bla. Also, it's like saying stickam, Justin.TV, youtube, ustream should all be banned becuase it has porn or nudity. I just downloaded Photosnap, how is this app any different? Maybe Apple should ban ichat, some people are chatting naked.

johnqh

Jul 3, 2009, 10:55 AM

I agree with Apple not allowing porn apps, but i disagree with this one. This app is not porn or nudity intended.

Very naive.

Any app (or service), if it allows porn/nudity, porn/nudity will take over, especially on a controlled device like iPhone.

joro

Jul 3, 2009, 11:22 AM

In other news:

Apple pulls Safari from iPhones because the app could potentially be used to view pornography. The fate of the picture viewer and movie playback apps are still up in the air at this point.

Exactly! If you are going to pull or reject an app because it POSSIBLY could allow access to nudity and/or pornographic material then you need to remove safari which can do exactly the same, if not worse. :rolleyes:

iAlexG

Jul 3, 2009, 12:09 PM

Apple should be more careful

Tallest Skil

Jul 3, 2009, 12:11 PM

Apple should be more careful

If you'd read the thread, you would know it wasn't Apple's fault.

robogobo

Jul 3, 2009, 04:06 PM

the internet is for porn.

twoodcc

Jul 3, 2009, 05:31 PM

sounds like people would put all kinds of pics on there

macUser2007

Jul 3, 2009, 08:29 PM

Agree with other posters that there is obviously what appears on the surface to be double-standards. My guess as to the motivating factor? Money! ... Apple isn't in the business of making morality, integrity and consistency the primary focus... money is their primary focus.

... neither Apple nor the article on MacForums has made any mention of religion being a factor in their decision yet the post above, like several others seems to contain the implication (along with significant disdain) for religion and the bible. How did those two things get linked to this article about Apple's App Store choices and review process?

Uhm, you kind of answered your own question....

A lot of folks in the Bible Belt start making calls, writing letters, and organizing boycotts, the second a bare breast pops out inadvertently on TV, or on the iPhone.

So, companies who want to make $$$, bow to the pressure, and ban material offensive to such vocal religious types and their brood (like bare female breasts).

Instead, they show them exploding heads (The Omen) and fictional sadism (The Passion of the Christ).

Anyway, Apple should be embarrassed of jumping to pull this application, and the idiotic media which headlined this as "CHILD PORN" should be ignored by all rational people.

ChazUK

Jul 4, 2009, 10:06 AM

Why are people complaining about this news being on MR?

Without the (intelligent might i add) discussion which has followed I may have swallowed the sensationalist headline and got my pitch fork ready. ;)

Reading the comments in this thread opened my eyes to the fact that this is yet more media sensationalist BS and the comparisons to Safari allowing porn make complete sense to me.

Keep the discussion going I say!