Apple accused of pushing porn in China

By

ipad

This news item has a few “lost in translation,” issues but is still interesting: some people in China are apparently complaining that Apple is promulgating pornography there.

According to Communist Party of China mouthpiece People’s Daily Online,  a man rang up China National Radio to complain that he downloaded an app that contained “sexually explicit written material.”

The app, provocatively titled “18 novels forbidden in the Ming and Qing Dynasty,” contained content that “annoyed” his family.  (And, although we’re sure you weren’t the least bit curious, we searched and turned up no English translation of this content in iTunes).

Li Qiang, professor with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the radio that the offending content is a crime, according to a 2010 judicial interpretation on pornography dissemination in China, and called for a “public prosecution” of Apple.

An Apple spokesperson told CNR that the content carries a warning that it is “only suitable for adults over 17.”

“In a country that has zero tolerance toward pornography dissemination, we won’t accept the rating system at all. Apple can’t use American laws to treat the problem in China,” Li said.

This could be an interesting conundrum for the Cupertino company after the famous “freedom from porn” declaration and all the flip-flopping on adult content in the iTunes U.S. store.

Via People’s Daily

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