Will Apple censor books and comic books?

[Nebrie]

You can always get your erotica from the Kindle app. Hopefully amazon integrates their store into it.

 

[iVoid]

and yet the playboy app remains in the app store, while all the small dev apps have been removed. Hmmmmm…!

I think this action by Apple is a huge mistake. It appears they gave into pressure from extremist parenting groups. But the correct course of action for Apple to take would have been to tell those mothers how to turn on the parental controls in iTunes.

Playboy has high paid lawyers.

The small devs don't.

End of discussion.

Freedom takes another hit.

 

[NotTempted]

If the iPad can be jailbroken then I don't think that the iPad will be subject to Apple censorship for too long. But that gets me thinking about the reports of Apple letting out controlled leaks about product development to increase security. Could the iPhone be a controlled leak as well. What were the origins of the first "jailbreak"? Could not the iPhone have been a dry run to make sure that complete control of the iPad could be had by Apple? They are playing with raw content demand here and that could spell trouble if they start picking and choosing. If the popularity of this device reaches the heights that I expect, I see there being some major possible game changing conflicts when it comes to content distribution and control.

 

[MVApple]

I have a newly inspired sig

 

[MVApple]

EVERY business should decide what its customers can access. I work for a newspaper. We decide not to put bloody pictures in it, and we don't print most curse words. I mean we're literally in the business of "censoring" stuff.

Apple is no different from any other vendor. You don't see Best Buy stocking Back Door Sluts 9, do you? (Please let someone have seen South Park) Walmart is notorious for censoring stuff. I think its stores don't sell explicit lyrics CDs -- while still selling R-rated movies.

So I'm fine with Apple playing gatekeeper. I wasn't forced to buy an iPhone. If Apple were to just go totally overboard, I can buy an Android-based phone or BlackBerry in a year. But then I'd realize how few useful apps those phones have and be right back to my "censored" iPhone.

Apples and oranges.

You work for a single newspaper. One newspaper censoring curse words and bloody pictures is one thing, a newspaper purposefully not publishing a story because of something like financial or political interest is crossing ethical journalism lines. One time some guy tried to convince me that killing someone and lieing are equally wrong because they are both "sins". What he ignored or simply didn't realize is that while they both fall under the category of "sin" there are different degrees of it and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

Also, Apple has banned apps for being "too political" and those types of events set precedents.

And the best buy and walmart analogies don't flow all that well because as one other user mentioned, Apple is selling both hardware and software along with content. You can buy a blu-ray player at best buy or wal mart and it'll play all the political and pornographic material you want even if you can't buy the material at walmart.

Similarly, all the blu-ray and music discs you buy at best buy or walmart will play on any blu-ray hardware you buy somewhere else.

With something like an Apple TV or iPad you can only legally watch copyrighted content from itunes and that itunes content will only play on Apple hardware; hardware, software, and content that is intimately tied to a single company, unlike blu-ray with various publishers and hardware companies.

And this isn't even touching all the other issues, like Apple choosing to allow companies like playboy to continue objectionable material while smaller developers get hammered.

Or banning an app deemed as being "too political", too political to whom?

I think they should keep the sexual stuff in its own category that is only visible after you enable it in a preference because it definitely is tacky seeing those types of apps along with games like scrabble but I don't think theres a need to remove it all together.

I'm more worried about books being banned than things like ifart and iboobs, but its these events that make me worry that Apple is going down the wrong path.

Take a look at my sig, I think all these "parents" belong with them too. They get scared about these apps with half-naked women and somehow don't realize that safari gives them access to full naked women doing just about everything imaginable.

 

[samcraig]

One small glitch in your analogy though.

You CAN get non-Apple content on your iPad. You can burn/rip your own DVDs, CDs and even download, for example, porn in either the right format or convert it with software. I agree with nearly everything you wrote - but at the end of the day - we're really talking about what's available via iTunes on the iPad.

The analogy of buying a dvd player in one place and content in another still holds pretty much.

 

[MVApple]

One small glitch in your analogy though.

You CAN get non-Apple content on your iPad. You can burn/rip your own DVDs, CDs and even download, for example, porn in either the right format or convert it with software. I agree with nearly everything you wrote - but at the end of the day - we're really talking about what's available via iTunes on the iPad.

The analogy of buying a dvd player in one place and content in another still holds pretty much.

You are right about CD's but I don't agree with you on the DVD aspect, at least not in the United States. Software that circumvents DVD copyright protection is illegal in the United States and every company that has tried to give consumers a legal simple way to play their dvd's in other devices like ipods has been shot down.

So while technically you can load up your own content, that isn't a viable option for most of the consumer world in the United States.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I think the established publishers will have free reign to publish their works on the store. However, I don't expect Apple to allow more prurient stuff like Penthouse Letters.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Playboy has high paid lawyers.

The small devs don't.

End of discussion.

Freedom takes another hit.

Nope. Lawyers have nothing to do with it since Playboy has no right to be in the iTMS, and Apple has no obligation to sell it.

It comes down to money, and Playboy & Time Warner are major players in the magazine industry and Apple wants mags for the iPad.

 

[EssentialParado]

Nope. Lawyers have nothing to do with it since Playboy has no right to be in the iTMS, and Apple has no obligation to sell it.

It comes down to money, and Playboy & Time Warner are major players in the magazine industry and Apple wants mags for the iPad.

Maybe… But if it was the other way around, and Apple had removed all sexual content including playboy and sports illus. yet they still left only a couple of independent sex magazine apps, then playboy and sports illus. would have an anti-monopoly lawsuit thrust into the courts overnight. The only thing is, those small devs don't have the money to fight it. There is no way Apple should be having double standards here.

Similarly, they removed an iPhone game called "Daisy Mae", where the character you played wore hot pants. Now I'm pretty sure if Tomb Raider appeared on the App store it wouldn't be taken down.

 

[MVApple]

Maybe… But if it was the other way around, and Apple had removed all sexual content including playboy and sports illus. yet they still left only a couple of independent sex magazine apps, then playboy and sports illus. would have an anti-monopoly lawsuit thrust into the courts overnight. The only thing is, those small devs don't have the money to fight it. There is no way Apple should be having double standards here.

Similarly, they removed an iPhone game called "Daisy Mae", where the character you played wore hot pants. Now I'm pretty sure if Tomb Raider appeared on the App store it wouldn't be taken down.

I know monopolys are illegal in the United States but what's an anti-monopoly?

Anyways, I think the guy you were replying too is right. What does and doesn't get censored is going to depend on who the publisher is. Apple won't want to censor large publishers in fear that they will pull other popular content in retaliation, but the small frys will be bullied.

Here is an interesting article I ran across talking about, perhaps Jobs biggest oversight which is just what this topic is about.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/a...ssessing-the-ipad-icons-legacy-hold/19338065/

 

[EssentialParado]

I know monopolys are illegal in the United States but what's an anti-monopoly?

It's like a big, floating, white balloon that chases you.

Anyways, Daisy Mae was put back onto the App store yesterday, probably because of my earlier comment (Hah! I wish…)

There's also evidence Apple are adding an explicit category into the App store, so it seems Apple are fixing things. Either way, it will be fun to watch.