Comments on: Apple confirms it banned iPhone porn app

Developer seemed to indicate he asked for his softcore porn iPhone app to be removed due to server overload, but Apple tells a different story.

[troyoverton]

Wow... There seems to be alot of flip-flopping about who did what to who and when or how on this one.

/Oh, wait... I didn't care to begin with.

[mediocrates--2008]

+1

[dhavleak]

I would care a little (If I owned an iphone, that is).

This is essentially becomming a question of censorship. Who is Apple to tell us what you what you can and cannot run on your phone? They should simply be concentrating on delivering good parental controls instead.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I agree 100%. I was going to congratulate Apple for not censoring this app when the developer pulled it themselves, but now that Apple has admitted they were going to pull it anyway, I have to say bad on Apple.

If Apple had the nicest phone in the world and sold it cheap (snicker), I still wouldn't buy it. I am an adult, and although I'm not interested in porn on my cell phone, I'm also not interested in being locked into only one app store run by Apple if Apple is going to censor what's available. What I put on my phone should be MY choice, not Apples. I have never liked Apple, and now this is just one more confirmation that I have always been making the right decision in not buying their products.

Anyone who's OK with this is blatantly a programmed sheep that enjoys doing what Apple tells them is good for them.

What ever happened to "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"? I guess Apple has never heard of that quote, and doesn't understand what it means. Are we sure Apple is really American? We should check and make sure they're not actually from China.

Why would anyone want to own a censored computing device? Parental controls are good, censorship is bad.

[seven7dust]

google has already banned a few apps in it's supposedly open sourced store
I'm sure that RIM and Nokia are doing the same !
people need to stop making it sound like Apple is the only company involved in censorship !

[NeverFade]

but at the same time, if you want the exact same thing, this is what you do, for free.
Get any nude pics that you want off the internet, put the on your iPhone - run a slide show! ta da! same thing, except for fee, and your choosing/... :)

[tappy727]

Yep, you didn't care so much that you commented on the story.

[The_happy_switcher]

Thanks for the pointless post.
-1

[shootfirst]

@Mergatroid

The fact is Apple is a commercial entity, not a government one. Once you fall on the sword of selling inappropriate content it is a downward spiral. Apple will not stop you from taking your iphone and going on the web for the exact same content that this app had, however it is Apple's responsibility to maintain an image that isn't with smut. I applaud them for keeping their apps clean as this is not censorship in any form, this is a product agreement you made when you agreed to use the iphone and I believe it to be a good one, unlike only installing OSX on apple sold hardware, that is just stupid. Hack your iphone and you can do whatever the heck you want on it, no one is stopping you, just don't think it is your right to tell Apple to do its business.

Your quote is flawed as it has to do with government censorship, not private industry. I would side with you if this were a government issue, but it is not and we can choose to live without Apple very easily if they do not supply us with what we need. No one needs to fight Apple on this and to be frank no one has the right to tell Apple how to do its business cause you would just be censoring them in a different way.

[El_Segfaulto]

@seven7dust

The difference between Google and Apple is that I can still install software from 3rd party sources on my G1. Apple has their entire garden walled off.

[solitare_pax]

Of course, Paypal refuses to do business with anyone peddling porn (and there are few reliable alternatives to Paypal out there) as does eBay, and Craig's List just clamped down on "Erotic Services" by charging for them.

It's their business, so they can make the rules, just like Apple.

Besides, the iPhone has a web browser - you can go browse naughty pictures for free without paying for an app, can't you?

[myles taylor]

Interesting that they first tried to sneak the content in there, and then tried to cover up the fact that Apple pulled it by saying that they asked for it to be removed. Also, it's totally bogus since the App would be on Apple's servers, not theirs. You aren't required to have a server in order to upload an App to the App store.

[mynameiscoffey]

The story implies that the images in the application are loaded from their server.

[cvaldes1831]

mynameiscoffey is correct.

The app was downloading nude images from the developer's server. The developer claimed that the app's popularity had overwhelmed his server's capacity and he asked Apple to temporarily halt sales of Hottest Girls. I believe his website showed that he has written four apps for the iPhone/iPod touch.

Today, the developer's site has basically been taken down (www.allenthegeek.com). There is nothing left but an e-mail address.

[BiggShaad]

I wonder do we get our money back. You can't see any pictures now.

[cvaldes1831]

I'd contact Apple customer support. My guess is that they'd issue you a credit.

[Police_States_of_America]

apple is just protecting you from things you shouldnt see

[Perry_Clease]

They should give us a troll filter

[ikramerica--2008]

Actually, they are policing an abuse of license, where a company submitted a product then altered the product after approval. If the company had thought the product was going to work with the App Store, they would have been honest about it from the start.

There is plenty of porn on the iPhone. It can be reached through Safari... ;)

[tappy727]

OMG, they need to pull Safari because itt can access inappropriate content.

[topgunb2]

probably they should restrict what people eat, drink and smoke to prevent obesity and other problems, probably they should decide when you can have sex to avoid aids!

[Lumiseon]

Police_States_of_America is a Christian nutjob. <-- Truth.

[natedogg0511]

Yeah, I check with Apple every day to make sure I am living my life properly and only seeing the things that i should see. In Apple We Trust

[El_Segfaulto]

Always remember, Apple has a plan for you.

[lazycat202]

right! Apple own you and always has a plan for you. Sorry to hear that! you control your life; no body else!

[codynews]

hahaha, this is all very funny. You don't need a porn "app". I'll say this for anyone wanting porn on their iphone...

SAFARI IS THE BIGGEST PORN APP FOR THE IPHONE!

Geeze

Cody

[ywkhgqo]

yeah for apple and censorship!

[codynews]

It's Apples store, they can ban and censor whatever they want and I'm 100% fine with it. I just don't see what all the fuss is by users and a porn app. If you're that addicted to porn on the go just open Safari and head to google.

It's not that hard (no pun intended...)

Cody

[Mergatroid Mania]

Sheep

[Perry_Clease]

"Sheep"

You have an app for that! Well at least it isn't naked women

[artistjoh]

Not only that but the app wasn't even porn - it was just showing some topless women (yawn) and such "adult" images are readily available via Flickr on the iPhone. Apple is not censoring the viewing of adult material on the iPhone in total, just in the app store which is a shop like any other and just like my shop I decide what I display to match the image of my business that I choose to display and how I display it, While that technically involves a certain amount of "censorship" that is how things should be.

After all I do not confuse this with attempting to stop people in other shops displaying what ever they like so long as they are comfortable that the content conforms with their own self image. Flickr, Google, YouTube are the equivalent of other "shops" on the iPhone where adult material is readily viewable.

Each of these entities works within their own self imposed boundaries plus those dictated by law. Apple prefers a squeeky clean image for the App Store. No problems - there are plenty of other choices on the iPhone for viewing what ever I like.

[alchemistmuffin]

uhhh, topless women picture IS porn in any way.

Anything exposing the private parts is considered softcore porn.

Besides, I have to agree, Safari is much better at handling porn.

[Lumiseon]

" by alchemistmuffin June 26, 2009 11:28 PM PDT
uhhh, topless women picture IS porn in any way.

Anything exposing the private parts is considered softcore porn. "

Uh...huh. So then me taking my shirt off and posting a picture of me shirtless(I'm a guy) is considered softcore porn. Since all that's ever censored on that part is nipples. Niiples ! Bad. Get over it.

[ckh1272]

"by Mergatroid Mania June 26, 2009 11:30 AM PDT
Sheep"

Ignorant and uninformed is what you are. The App store is a retail store, whether you realize it or not. Their is not one, I repeat, not one retail chain that would have done the same thing, i.e. Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Sears, etc. Let us you if ever find an "adult" section in any of those stores and we might believe what you're saying. Til' then. censorship does apply to private business. Get over it!!

[NervClaX]

Apple's iPhone is as closed as any video game console. The console manufacturers draw the line at "Rated M" for games, but they're perfectly happy bundling web browsers and playing porn DVDs.

[dhavleak]

I don't know about other game consoles -- but I own a 360 and I'm damn sure I can run any game I want to on it.

You're confusing game ratings with the ability to run a game. MS has implemented brilliant parental controls in the 360. I just setup my kids' account, enable/disable whatever settings I want, specify the level (M / PG13 etc. types) of content that's ok, and have the console boot into that.

On my own account (yes, password protected), I can run anything I want. Nobody makes games that are rated NC-17 and such (becauase they'll never make enough money off them) -- that's a totally different thing. The console makers aren't telling you what you can/cannot play. Even the parental controls are squarely in the hands of the parents.

[BIGELLOW]

@dhavleak,

That's fine and dandy for disc-based games, but on the online store for the XBox 360, only games that Microsoft approves to be on the store are allowed on the store. Since you don't have the ability to shop at other third-party online stores to download content, then you have to rely entirely on Microsoft's own decision-making as to whether or not you could make a profit on downloadable content for the 360 (or the PS3 for that matter when it comes to Sony and their system). As the world starts moving away from retail stores and physical media and moves closer and closer to downloadable media being the majority, we're ending up in a scenario where each device has its own proprietary store where the maker of that device can define what applications are allowed or not allowed.

The future will be a whole lot less free if something isn't done about this.

[dhavleak]

@ BIGELLOW

1) You have an option -- that's the point. Whether it's available online or not doesn't matter.

2) You actually have no insight into MS's 'approval' process for their online store. They have R rated and NC-17 rated movies. So they have no qualms about having game content that's rated at that level as well. They have *working* parental controls -- so X rated content won't even show up on a child's account. They have no reason to censor anyone.

[iertry]

Apple said from day 1 that porn was not allowed. It doesn't matter whether the ratings allow for nudity or not it is still against the guidelines developers agree to. Personally I have no objection to pornography but I do not think it should be on the app store. First of all, there isn't any real need for it. Secondly, chances our all porn apps will be extremely successful and developers of useful apps will be less successful and this could lead to developers investing less on the platform.

[mquag]

Yes, that's exactly right... useful business applications will fail to find customers because we will be spending all of our money on porn apps.

That's why there are absolutely no successful shopping, travel and business sites on the world wide web... back in 1999 they were all outpaced by those damn porn sites.

[iertry]

@mquag

What I mean is that if the porn apps become really successful useful apps will end up lower in the rankings and when it comes to selling apps on the app store your apps ranking can make a huge difference.

[ikramerica--2008]

Not to mention that the "top sellers" lists will be populated by porn apps, many, MANY people will be turned off by this, and it will decrease the appeal of the entire app store. And depending on the state people live in, Apple would be in violation of various laws.

Allowing pr0n specific apps would DAMAGE Apple, and why should Apple agree to something that damages them?

I suppose they could put a brown paper wrapper tab, or a "backroom with beaded curtain" button like indy video stores used to. But again, you can just use Safari. Big deal.

[BIGELLOW]

All Apple needs to do is ALLOW adult apps on their app store... use parental controls to allow parents to block these... and make it so that adult apps are not ranked with the non-adult apps. Problem solved. It's like the days of the video rental stores that put all of their adult content in one location, behind the beaded curtain. If you don't want to see the adult apps, don't go behind the curtain.

[BIGELLOW]

The "you can just use Safari" excuse is an old one. The difference is, apps can run faster than Safari renders web pages. Regardless of whether another means COULD be used, it's the very fact that Apple is exercising FAVORITISM which makes the market-place not a "free market". Not that anyone expecting anything like this from Apple. Let's not forget that this isn't just limited to "porn". Nine Inch Nails had their own app banned by Apple because their music contains explicit lyrics. You may not be a fan of NiN, but censorship is censorship, no matter what justification you use for it.

I admit that this soft-core porn app really wasn't necessary as an app. The person could have just set it up as a website formatted for iPhones and then charged a one-time $2 fee for unlimited access. The problem I could see this individual running into is setting up the security... setting up a payment method (through some place which will allow this type of service)... and then advertising his product.

Apple's app store gives all of these... it gives built-in marketing... built-in payment collection system... built-in security mechanism, etc...

[tpsamguy]

Why not look at it on your iphone? I mean you can access it anywhere, especially if you are traveling. They took down that app, but I never really used it anyways. It was not even really a hardcore site. www.ipinkvisual.com is a good example of porn designed for the iphone, you can tell they put some time in to it. or if you want to see some really funny iphone games, check out www.itouchher.com... they have a game called transpotter lol I seriously cant stop laughing at this one. You can certainly tell the iphone has made it when the porn companies are making specially formatted sites for it.

[ralfthedog]

It's not porn unless your computer gets a virus and they get your bank account.

[dex81]

lol @ raflthedog

[Shaun822]

Wahhhhhh Apple won't let companies develop porn apps for the iPhone. Grow up for god's sake. If they actively distribute it through their system then it opens them up to a whole new world of hurt from regulatory agencies. If you want to cry about censorship at least aim your crying in the right direction.

[What_do_u_mean]

I never enabled Apple to be my mind guardian. Who are they to determine what is appropriate material. If they what to exclude porn from their computers they need to ban all apps that connect to the the Internet! This is very hypocritical and an example of big brother control (what Apple complains MS is doing). I pay Apple for product and a service, moral control over my freedom is not part of the deal!

[digiguy23]

There are so many other places to get porn. Geesh, so many people desperate to be naked women even on the iPhone. Don't like Apple's rules, buy another phone.

[HeavyJim]

Apple and China, a match made in heaven.

[GlennAllen]

Yep, it's so "inappropriate" to show people as God created them. Oh, the horror! (Don't like it? Don't look at it.)

[mavfan2]

Calling this porn and/or softcore porn? Are you serious cnet? It's topless women, something you'd see every day at the beach in Europe or even on Miami Beach. Where is the simulated sex that would make it softcore porn much less what it'd take to categorize it as porn. Give me a break.

[MrRetardo]

It could be worse! Apple could've picked a crappy carrier for their iPhone!.........

Oh wait! They did!

[crsteele]

I'm sure that if it was an app showing severed heads and mutilated torture scenes that would have been just fine with the Apple tards.

How mentally or morally challenged/inept do you have to be for a breast to offend you.

What's the difference between Apple banning topless apps and the other moronic lemmings enforcing the wear a sheet rule.

Wake up....... Apple's not your Nanny!!!! or is it....?????????

[Neumenon]

This is one of several reasons why I do not use any Apple product. Their backpedaling and lying over the matter is not acceptable. They're determining what developers and users can utilize is not acceptable.

[canyoudiggit]

Apple is going in the wrong direction with the whole porn thing. Are they afraid to **** off their current investors? Do they not pay attention to history? The porn industry cannot be avoided.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's Bing has audio preview for video search results... awesome :D

[canyoudiggit]

**** was a word synonymous to angering. Nothing dirty lulz.

[solvback]

Dudes it's wrong. Totally nerds. This is America.
The phone for most can't be used for business, most use blackberry.
For me it will be an entertainment device and phone.
Apple is Apple, they punk out when government will be involved. Smart Business move, safe.
Just don't come on my TV talking as your products are the hip ones.
I like the phone but I don't like censorship.

[The_happy_switcher]

So you're only hip if you allow porn developers on your phone? Clue fairy here: the iphone surfs the net--home to about 1 billion porn sites--and does so without censoring.