Good for Apple! Are we so addicted to sexuality that we need to carry 3-inch images of boobs in our pocket? Think about how ridiculous that sounds. Craig, you say get a life…why not tell that to the 13 year olds who are sexting each other because they saw naked women on dad’s iPhone?

While I can understand many things going on with Apple and the app store this is getting absurd now.

Hey, the over the top violence is just as bad, and I agree with you about the shooting people in the head, but can you explain why twelve and thirteen year olds are having sex? Could it just possibly be that it’s shoved in their face at every turn? Where’s your limit Craig? Is it okay to stare at a 20 year old’s naked body? If/when you have a 20 year old daughter will it be okay for ME to stare at her naked body?

Good for apple. I used to be addicted to pornography and it had a grip on my life. I have been porn free for quite a while now but honestly seeing all these sexy apps def does tempt me to pull up some porn on my iPhone. Thank you apple for making it easier for me to break free from our lust infused culture.

Hey Craig, my apologies. I wasn’t meaning to imply anything about you personally and I do apologize if that’s how it came out. It was completely unintentional.

I’m simply saying that we seem to be okay with a lot of this stuff but then get all worked up when it hits us personally. Watching someone get mutilated in a Saw movie is great…until it happens to your neighbour, or a family member. And you are absolutely right about the hypocrisy of Apple to ban Daisy May and not Playboy. Clearly, one is worse than the other and removing Playboy would hit Apple where it hurts the most – the bottom line – so their motivations are far from pure. Still, I applaud them for at least taking a small step.

It would be totally irresponsible for me to say that adding Wobble to your iPhone or reading x-Men comics is going to cause you to go out and rape a woman or shoot up a high-school, but don’t you think that cumulatively there has to be some effect? A lot of the content in the 8 pm TV shows used to be saved for after 10 pm when (theoretically at least) the kids had gone to bed. It’s a difficult discussion that you and I aren’t going to fix here but it is a good discussion to have nonetheless. I appreciate your comments and at least trying to think it through unlike a lot of folks.

Craig, I think you’re misreading the risk factors for Apple a bit. This whole issue is an inevitable extension of the App Store model: the closed system not only means that Apple CAN ban apps, it also means that APPLE themselves is the one selling apps that many people consider objectionable. No one is saying “Why is Apple putting smut on the internet?” — but people ARE asking why “Apple” is selling smutty apps.

Yes, getting a reputation for overly tight and/or arbitrary controls is undesirable. Of course, techies have been complaining to Apple for years in this regard, and Apple seems to think that the majority of its market is more interested in a seamless experience than command-line hacks. Apple is probably most concerned about “risk to kids” insofar as it affects things like educational sales, but with the iPad coming out, and various people saying “this is perfect for my mom,” the effect of skanky apps on the user experience is likely the bigger concern. (“I showed my mom how to use the app store, but she says she won’t go there because it’s full of smut.”) Could they just hide it well? Maybe.

It’s also worth noting that the iPad screen is MUCH larger than an iPhone’s, so if you’re perusing your girly app on the subway, bystanders are much more likely to see what you’re seeing.

As far as arbitrary and extreme limits: I agree that denying an app which shows figure skating videos seems pretty silly. But I suspect that reason for these limits is that the people who want to produce soft-core apps are a persistent bunch, and will seek out any loophole they can find. Figure skating outfits okay? Let’s pose a bunch of women in skating outfits — with low-cut bodices, tight boob shots and b*tt-f me poses. Maybe the app can show skin, but that can’t be the *only* reason for its existence. No prob! A naked lady shows you the NWS forecast. The way for Apple to get around this is to use “we’ll know what we object to when we see it” standards, but developers (and this blog) have been demanding clear, consistent standards. Well, now you’ve got ‘em. If they’re over the top, I suspect porn purveyors who won’t take no for an answer are to blame.

Finally, I think the discussion as to whether these apps make anyone into a rapist, etc. sort of oversteps the issue. Let’s imagine for a second that you are a serious geek: I mean the type that gets used as a stereotype in movies — and I’ve met some, so don’t tell me they don’t exist. Now let’s say that the most popular App Store apps are all images of jocks giving geeks wedgies, dunking them headfirst in the toilet, etc. These images are all over the app store and on tons of iPhones. Does it encourage law-abiding people to attack geeks? Probably not. Does it encourage jocks to torment geeks? Possibly. Are you sick of seeing this crap everywhere, does it make you feel less human, and do you wonder why Apple is catering to people who like this stuff?

I’m not pro-censorship, but I think it behooves people to think about how it feels for women to see images which objectify and degrade them — and see them everywhere. It can’t be fun, or improve young women’s self-images. Does censorship have chilling consequences? Yes. But don’t pretend that displaying porn on your iPhone has absolutely no consequences, and is strictly between you and your private parts. It’s not that simple.

i can’t find the link at the moment but in another article it was noted that this Wobble app had not been updated in over a year. And last spring all apps developers were asked to test and certify their apps were 3.0 AND add a rating for the new parental control system.

if Wobble wasn’t updated perhaps the developer never put in the rating. As perhaps was the case with a number of other ‘skin apps’. And it would certainly be more titillating (pardon the pun) to leave out that detail and make Apple look like jerks.

Also Craig I’m sure that any app that was removed that was in fact educational and not just blatant porn would be able to contact Apple and be reinstated. If nothing else, they’d hunt down Steve Jobs email (which isn’t that hard anymore) and put him on the case.

“The problem, still, is that the fallout of Apple’s decision in this regard affects innocents, too”

I don’t disagree. I’m not saying the new guidelines are a good solution, but I can see how Apple got to where they are now. The fact that they’re as bad a solution as they are reflects how difficult this issue is.

“As for Apple saying people can get around the rules, so what? Apple’s clearly got a hell of a lot of subjectivity within the current approvals process anyway. A blanket ban on skating outfits makes no sense at all, given that I’m sure even the most dullard reviewer could tell the difference between “Winter Games: iSkate” and “B*tt-f me in Vancouver”.

I also agree. What I’m saying is that people have been decrying Apple’s unclear guidelines and their apparently inconsistent application of them — but if Apple is going to institute completely clear guidelines *and abide by them,* those guidelines are inevitably going to paint with too broad a brush, because some developers are going to try anything they can to meet the requirements and still produce an app that they KNOW Apple doesn’t want.

I mean, how did the iWobble developer know that skating outfits aren’t allowed? Does Apple list that one explicitly, or does he want to create a legit iSkate app — or was it part of the dev’s discussion with them: “well, what about French maid uniforms? Superhero costumes? Skating outfits?”

In the end, I think the lesser evil is to let Apple use their discretion, although this can be frustrating for developers and has also produced innocent victims at times.

I’m not uniformly defending Apple here, but I think at times the arguments against them (not necessarily your arguments), take the attitude that there is some kind of perfect solution out there, and Apple is too stubborn to take it. The only simple solution is to allow any kind of app on the iPhone/iPad, which I know is what many people favor. But while that may work well for certain developers or users, I think it’s fair to say that it does have drawbacks for Apple. It would either mean that the App Store *is* selling “B*tt-f me in Vancouver,” or it means that Apple allows apps to be sold by anyone, with the attendant security risks and stability problems.

Good for Apple!!! Finally a porn free zone. Yet another reason to love Apple.

Apple should watch their 1984 ad over and over again. Here is what Big Brother told us:

“Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail.”

Will Apple be the next Big Brother?

Even animals do not act as base as some people do. The Hollywood “look at me” crowd just wants everyone to stop what they are doing and look at them like they are 3-year-old. The most of them are boring and are vying for attention, even if they have to swap spit, fondle and go nude. It is sick and sickening. Who cares except for the stupidity? When they cannot produce good tv or movies they revert back to something that draws attention even if is negative attention.