Apple Now Blocking 'Overtly Sexual' Apps from App Store

[Analog Kid]

...or make up at the time. Because there definitely is some inconsistency in how these calls are being made.

They're clearly trying to find the right balance. Consistency is a benefit to their developers, but "we'll handle overtly sexual apps on a case by case basis" isn't an unreasonable policy. We like a neat and tidy world, but it's rarely neat and tidy in the grey regions.

 

[nick9191]

Good riddance.

Now start with the fart apps, stupid one time gag apps, and generally absolutely anything that has no use.

I really don't care if it annoys people, it's Apple's store and they need to take it the f back, because it's going to the dogs right now.

 

[freediverdude]

Sooo......if I make a Mapplethorpe app, will that be denied? That was shown in legitimate art galleries. Where do you draw the line?

 

[MorphingDragon]

Just allow any content, and rate it just like they do with Motion Pictures! Then it will be the same as the internet -- anything is available, so why should the app store be ANY different? Or is Apple going to start filtering Safari content too and become like Communist China?!

We'll then I'll move to Linux.

 

[lostngone]

I want iTunes to be an OK place for my small kids to look for things, I have parental controls on their computer. If crap like that is in there, then we won't be using iTunes. A "toggle" is not an answer.

So nudity doesn't make iTunes an "OK" place for your small kids but you don't seem to have a problem with your kids seeing all the violent music/movies/apps in iTunes???

*You have some pretty messed up morals if shooting someone/violence is "OK" but you think nudity should be banned.

Edit:*In my opinion.

 

[MorphingDragon]

So nudity doesn't make iTunes an "OK" place for your small kids but you don't seem to have a problem with your kids seeing all the violent music/movies/apps in iTunes???

*You have some pretty messed up morals if shooting someone/violence is "OK" but you think nudity should be banned.

Edit:*In my opinion.

Ohh, they bounce so meticulously off the flesh.

 

[Adokimus]

Its true killing and violence is so much better for your sole than looking at a beautiful girl naked or not. By the way isn't there a glut of naked women in any art gallery around the world. So if your naked your evil but if you get painted naked your not. That is really thinking different.

*It's

*killing and violence are

*soul

*you're

*you're (again)

*you're (once more)

People will take you more seriously if you spell correctly and work more on your sentence structure and on organizing your thoughts. I am not trying to make fun of you, simply trying to give you some helpful advice.

 

[MorphingDragon]

*It's

*killing and violence are

*soul

*you're

*you're (again)

*you're (once more)

People will take you more seriously if you spell correctly and work more on your sentence structure and on organizing your thoughts. I am not trying to make fun of you, simply trying to give you some helpful advice.

Dieses ist ein Internet-Forum.

 

[Jaro65]

*It's

*killing and violence are

*soul

*you're

*you're (again)

*you're (once more)

People will take you more seriously if you spell correctly and work more on your sentence structure and on organizing your thoughts. I am not trying to make fun of you, simply trying to give you some helpful advice.

+1 vote. And thank you.

 

[mosx]

This is sad. People really need to grow up when it comes to sex and nudity.

Heres an idea.

Have separate sections of the app store. One for 18+, and one for kids. The child access is controlled using parental controls. By default, anyone under the age of 13 can only access the child area. Parental controls can allow access to other areas but NOT the 18+ section. Anyone 13 and up can access "teen" appropriate apps, with other apps being accessible only if the parent allows but, again, NOT the 18+ section. The 18+ section is accessible only by adult accounts with verified credit cards, since modern day credit cards (even prepaid ones) require all sorts of personal information at sign up/activation.

Heres another idea.

Parents? Do your job and be a parent. Raise your kid right and teach them about sex properly. That is, after all, what you're supposed to be doing. If you shelter your child from everything their entire life, then they're going to grow up and do stupid things when it comes to sex, drugs, etc.

So, I say again, DO YOUR JOB.

Apple needs to take a lesson from history - Porn is the major driving factor behind nearly every media format's success. VHS vs Beta. DVD vs LD. BluRay VS HDDVD. Which side did the Porn industry take? Which side won out?

VHS beat Beta because it was years before Beta tapes could hold an entire movie. VHS originally had the capacity to hold a 2 hour film, while Beta was roughly half that. On top of that, Sony didn't want to license Beta technology. Sony wanted Beta players to be Sony only, while JVC licensed VHS to everyone. By the time Sony agreed to license and had increased Beta capacity, it was too late.

DVD versus Laserdisc? Laserdisc was already 19 years old when DVD was introduced. Laserdisc was never anything more than a niche format due to the format limitations. Some LD movies were "4 sided" meaning you had 2 discs that had to be flipped over twice each. Can you imagine getting up every 30 minutes to either flip a disc or switch sides? Thats why LD was only ever a niche format.

When DVD came out it had higher resolution, higher bit-rate digital audio that was standard and not added on to the format, it was significantly smaller, and it brought with it a whole host of advantages.

There never was a DVD versus LD battle. DVD was more of the final nail in the LD coffin than anything else.

Blu-ray and HD DVD had nothing to do with porn either. Blu-ray "won" in the end because nobody other than Toshiba ever made an HD DVD player and blu-ray had more major studio support. Not only that, but after a rocky start, more and more people bought blu-ray players than HD DVD. HD DVD only lasted as long as it did because Toshiba didn't want to give up.

Why are divX, Xvid, WMV, and flash video so much more popular than QT and MP4?

WMV and Flash are more popular because Windows, up until Windows 7, has support for them out of the box. Flash is multi-platform and generally already installed for the user at first boot. Plus WMV is built-in to Windows starting with Windows XP. You don't have to install anything extra to watch a WMV. Same with Flash for most people. Plus, again, Flash is multi-platform. You can make the one thing in Flash and nearly everyone can view it.

DivX and Xvid were never popular outside of the pirate scene.

As far as H.264 goes, it wasn't meant to be thrown out into the wild and used immediately like DivX, Xvid, and WMV were. H.264 was designed by the same people who made MPEG-2 a spec. H.264 is meant to be used for years, if not a couple of decades, just like MPEG-2. So that means a couple of things. First, that it took a long time to get out. Remember, the spec wasn't finalized until 2005 or so. Second thing it means is that when it came out, it had some very high requirements for software playback. Only in the last few years have computers been released that can play standard definition and 720p H.264 video without a problem. 1080p is still only playable to an extent. If you want blu-ray quality 1080p video (blu-ray does use H.264), then you need to get the GPU in on the decoding process. H.264 is becoming the standard, but its taking time. These things don't happen over night. Don't forget that it took DVD almost 6 full years of being available to finally gain 51% market share and "overtake" VHS.

But as I said before, the adoption or non-adoption of any of the mentioned topics here have had nothing to do with porn. They were or were not adopted for other reasons.

 

[BigJimmyC]

Just allow any content, and rate it just like they do with Motion Pictures! Then it will be the same as the internet -- anything is available, so why should the app store be ANY different? Or is Apple going to start filtering Safari content too and become like Communist China?!

+1. Why does apple need to police the app store in such a manor? If they simply categorized things adequately, then they could section it so that people who get offended by reality (read: sexuality) can pretend that they're living in a fairy tale world without having to deal with software that other people like. Thanks so much Apple for deciding, once again, what your customers should want.

 

[JMac213]

Good riddance.

I'm as raging a liberal as anyone and love freedom of speech, but seeing iBoobs or HoxSexSuperHotGirls in the top apps makes me really lose faith in humanity and I'd rather see more worthwhile apps (or at least more...content-heavy apps) be celebrated instead.

Liberal or Conservative you should respect the Bill of Rights and demand your Cilvil Liberties. Unless of course you'd be happier living in North Korea.

 

[Jaro65]

Liberal or Conservative you should respect the Bill of Rights and demand your Cilvil Liberties. Unless of course you'd be happier living in North Korea.

+1 vote!

 

[VenusianSky]

Liberal or Conservative you should respect the Bill of Rights and demand your Cilvil Liberties. Unless of course you'd be happier living in North Korea.

You are right, but that does not apply to a private business, which is a good thing IMO. I don't want the government to step in and tell a private corporation what to sell just because the public has civil liberties. If you don't like what the corporation sells or how it runs its business, you have the right to not support its business and the freedom to speak against it, as so many are doing here.

Now, I do agree that there does need to be some regulations that prevent businesses from selling something deceptive or that endangers the customer in any way. That is what standards and regulations committees are for.

 

[Analog Kid]

Liberal or Conservative you should respect the Bill of Rights and demand your Cilvil Liberties. Unless of course you'd be happier living in North Korea.

Yes, because the most un-communist thing we could do is use the Constitution to coerce businesses to all provide the same content and services. Perhaps the Government should seize the means of production to enforce conformity-- an eminently capitalistic and democratic approach!

 

[harley3k]

I've never been an evangelist for open source, linux, openness, all that jazz, but this whole locked down app store business has be feeling like I should.

I can kind of understand the security reasons for having the iPhone locked down, thus reducing my chances of getting some malware that dials 900 numbers while I'm asleep, but with the iPad, it just doesn't make sense to me.

It's their product/app store/business though - I guess they get to do what they want. And I get to not buy one, so it all works out I guess.

 

[Jaro65]

You are right, but that does not apply to a private business, which is a good thing IMO. I don't want the government to step in and tell a private corporation what to sell just because the public has civil liberties. If you don't like what the corporation sells or how it runs its business, you have the right to not support its business and the freedom to speak against it, as so many are doing here.

I agree. Now since Apple is a publicly traded corporation owned by a multitude of shareholders, its shareholders are the ones who should demand that the corporation respects the laws of the nation within which it operates. Either that, or the government should step in and tell a public corporation what to sell....

 

[Manderby]

I remember that the audience was laughing when Steve Jobs told them about limiting the content on the store: "Of course there are some things which we will not distribute... [next slide, first word on the screen] porn. *laughter*". I'm sure, not everyone laughed, neither did I. It was kind of embarassing, in a distressing way. Now after some time, there are a lot of complaints about the limitations, not only to sexual content. This is no surprise.

And this is nothing new by the way. I also remember when the Sherlok website recommondations were introduced: "I want my kids to know about sex, but in a eduactive way". And so they introduced a collection of websites "carefully" chosen by Apple. Even there, Apple already tried to set a bar (but as far as I remember, not many people cared). But now, it looks like not even this kind of content is allowed anymore (bot ok, I wouldn't want to explain my kids about sexuality with an iPhone). Actually, it was pretty clear that Apple would (have to) go this way since their cooperation with Disney.

There are a lot of open-minded people in this world which do not consider sexuality to be something to be afraid or ashamed of and that it does not need to be hidden. I respect that some people are asking for limiting sexual content and I respect that Apple reacts to them to not loose their reputation. But because of all those limitations I never really got interested in programming for the iPhone platform. There is this constant feeling of being treated like a foreign, potentially dangerous kid. It's just not professional and not trustworthy. And number one rule in business is: No trust, no deal.

 

[VenusianSky]

I agree. Now since Apple is a publicly traded corporation owned by a multitude of shareholders, its shareholders are the ones who should demand that the corporation respects the laws of the nation within which it operates. Either that, or the government should step in and tell a public corporation what to sell....

I believe you understand what I meant, but just to be clear for anyone else...

The terms public and private have different roles depending on the context of the discussion. Publicly traded versus private simply means if the company offers a part ownership of the business to the public or not. A private corporation in the sense that I referred to is a corporation/service that is not funded by or under the control of a local, state or federal government.

 

[Jaro65]

I remember that the audience was laughing when Steve Jobs told them about limiting the content on the store: "Of course there are some things which we will not distribute... [next slide, first word on the screen] porn. *laughter*". I'm sure, not everyone laughed, neither did I. It was kind of embarassing, in a distressing way. Now after some time, there are a lot of complaints about the limitations, not only to sexual content. This is no surprise.

And this is nothing new by the way. I also remember when the Sherlok website recommondations were introduced: "I want my kids to know about sex, but in a eduactive way". And so they introduced a collection of websites "carefully" chosen by Apple. Even there, Apple already tried to set a bar (but as far as I remember, not many people cared). But now, it looks like not even this kind of content is allowed anymore (bot ok, I wouldn't want to explain my kids about sexuality with an iPhone). Actually, it was pretty clear that Apple would (have to) go this way since their cooperation with Disney.

There are a lot of open-minded people in this world which do not consider sexuality to be something to be afraid or ashamed of and that it does not need to be hidden. I respect that some people are asking for limiting sexual content and I respect that Apple reacts to them to not loose their reputation. But because of all those limitations I never really got interested in programming for the iPhone platform. There is this constant feeling of being treated like a foreign, potentially dangerous kid. It's just not professional and not trustworthy. And number one rule in business is: No trust, no deal.

I was born and raised in Europe. And even though I lived in North America for most of my adult life, I can still sometime only wonder and shake my head over how differently the issues of sexuality and violence are approached in the US as compared to the EU. This is not a criticism of one versus the other. It is simply a comment noting how different cultures use differing attitudes and approaches to these most common human issues.

 

[liquidsuns]

Good lord, you guys are drama queens. No porn in the app store is not censorship, it has nothing to do with free speech, and Apple doesn't have to do anything they don't want to nor do they have to supply you with porn apps.

Why don't you all throw a fit because best buy or walmart don't sell porn?

Grow up.

 

[shipwrecked]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)



I hope you also complained about games like Grand Theft Auto which feature the murder of police? I mean, I know boobies are scary but there aren't there other, far more important things to complain about?

Well said. What really constitutes offensive material? I think it's pretty subjective and relies on individual discretion. Violence is porn for some people so how about blocking video games with too much blood and severed limbs.

Oh yeah, the playboy app is still available. Should be blocked too? No?

 

[3282868]

Hate to state it, but I laugh out loud when I see applications that show half-naked women selling for $.99 (I noticed a few of them for free through Cydia on my jailbroken iPhone). Are people really that desperate?

 

[Maserati7200]

First, they didn't give the iPhone camera any flash.
Next, they wouldn't allow Adobe Flash.
Now, they're banning any apps with flashing..

It's almost as if there's a pattern... I just can't quite put my finger on it..

Next is command form: Thou shalt not flash

I think it's good! Perverts need to just use Safari big deal! And the ones against it can go do thier own app stores... problem solved!

Great. Except, there is no other app store, and making one would be illegal.

This isn't about being able to "perve out" (and I disagree with the notion that looking at this sort of thing makes you a pervert, everyone looks at porn) but it's about censorship.

Like I said, I don't have any of these apps. I don't want any of these apps. I am against censorship, whether it's fart apps, boob apps, violent games, whatever, I am against the systematic banning of them from the app store because a bunch of prude puritans don't like their content.

Thank you. The hypocrisy here is amazing.

To all concerned parents: you have parental controls on the app store for a reason: use it!! Use those parental controls instead of writing letters to apple so everyone else doesn't have to suffer.

 

[H. Flower]

Hate to state it, but I laugh out loud when I see applications that show half-naked women selling for $.99 (I noticed a few of them for free through Cydia on my jailbroken iPhone). Are people really that desperate?

It is sad, but at the same time comical how enraged people are getting over masturbation fodder that is otherwise so completely and utterly accesible.

People around the world are starving, yet users here are "suffering" (to quote a complainer) because they need to open Safari to look at titties [for less cost].