Share

We’re sure that Chris Rock never wanted us to use that joke in reference to the availability of iPhone porn, but we did anyway… sorry. Over the past week, developer after developer has been told by Apple that their applications were too risqué for the App Store. That’s one giant leap backwards for mankind.

Please remember that the statements below are generalities (We’re not obsessed with porn nor do we have any opinion on the matter).

Since the App Store launched back in 2008, we’ve heard countless stories of “overtly sexual” content being rejected and then approved. Most of this is due to policy changes in the App Store approval process — the policies really haven’t been defined well and seem to change on a daily basis.

“Wobble iBoobs” was an app that originally popped up in the App Store quite some time ago and was shortly followed by the real problem apps: all of the stupid “pasties” apps that show everything possible without nudity (no nipples). We’re not sure who turned on the switch for porn, but we do know that the amount of “pasties” apps were getting well into the double digits. Some stupid, new app showed up on the top downloads nearly every week.

Maybe the sheer number of crappy porn apps caused Apple to tighten their belts and lay out stricter rules… maybe they were pressured by your mother (yeah, she saw you). Who knows? Apple has responded to this barrage of internet news coverage with the following statement:

“Whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them. If we find apps that contain inappropriate material we remove them from the App Store and request the developer to make any necessary changes to their apps in order to be distributed by Apple.”

We’re not sure we buy that. There’s been some pretty heavy banning in the App Store this week, and we’re sure that mom didn’t start complaining on Monday.

Click the read link… it’s worth reading the rest of this, we promise :)

The biggest issue here is this: After nearly two years, Apple has yet to figure out a way to filter content without completely censoring it. Parental controls, age verifications — there’s always going to be a way to circumnavigate those features… so will they just remove sexual content completely? No, that would be harder to achieve than an unbiased article at Cracked. What about all the movies that feature R-rated content or even nudity? What about explicit tracks available from the iTunes Music Store? Even some of the TV episodes are considered mature. Shouldn’t Apple remove every ounce of “inappropriate” media from our lives?

Apple is fighting a never-ending battle here. It’s not up to them to control what content makes it to our devices; it’s up to us to decide what we do and do not want to see. Selective approvals make Apple look like Joseph McCarthy who made false accusations with little to no evidence. Adding a porn section to the App Store wouldn’t blacklist Apple: with special age verified access and a place for all of the stupid boob apps, it would probably make a lot of people very happy. Removing the applications — no matter how dumb they are — places everyone in the wrong position(s). Apple wants to make money; people want to pay for porn… what’s the problem?

Realistically, Apple needs to sit down and rewrite the approval process from start to finish. If an iPhone App Review employee is having a crappy day, they could haphazardly reject 3 months of a single developer’s time and the next amazing iPhone app. That’s not okay. What’s wrong with proposals? Why couldn’t you explain what you’re looking to do and have Apple pre-approve it? This has been suggested for over a year now, but Apple hasn’t made a single step in this direction causing many developers thousands of dollars. We could go on, but we’ll leave that for an editorial. Apple, fix it.

Source