Apple: You Must Be 17+ To Use Opera

An anonymous reader writes "From the techspot article: 'This week, the Opera web browser became the first non-native browser made available in Apple's Mac App Store. While Apple approved the browser, it still managed to hurt its competitor by putting this ridiculous label on it: "You must be at least 17 years old to download this app." Opera has reacted in good humor. "I'm very concerned," Jan Standal, VP of Desktop Products for Opera Software, said in a statement. "Seventeen is very young, and I am not sure if, at that age, people are ready to use such an application. It's very fast, you know, and it has a lot of features. I think the download requirement should be at least 18."'"

Comments

No big deal

[Anonymous Coward]

The app allows you to access mature content. Apple does this across the board. - j

FUD?

[puppyfox]

Seems FUD, I downloaded other Safari-based browsers and they give a warning since you can get to adult content via the browser. I'm over 17, but I just had to say "OK" in the message box to proceed, Seems pretty reasonable...

Re:FUD?

[natehoy]

Because Apple's implementation of Safari respects Apple's Parental Controls, so if your parents bought you one they could (if they wanted to) lock you own of porn by using well-documented settings on the device.

Opera and many other browsers do not respect those controls, therefore Apple cannot prevent you from seeing porn, and they have to let Mom and Dad know that so they don't run afoul of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) and get in trouble.

It's all about how us adults like to fool ourselves that we can somehow protect you from things that occur in nature. So stop looking at porn and go watch a violent kiddie cartoon like a good little boy.

Parental Controls

[inpher]

It is because Safari has hooks into Parental Controls and Opera has not, therefore Opera gets the 17 years old limit.

Re:Parental Controls

[natehoy]

I'd assume so. Opera Mini (which appears to be the version Opera is selling) has a major selling point in that all page requests go through Opera's own proxies. Opera's proxies do a lot of the heavy lifting (Javascript, etc) and present the web page as a compressed image-and-text to the phone, meaning you use a LOT less of your monthly allotment of data and a LOT less processing power on your phone to render the web pages.

The downside is that, simply put, your phone is only connecting to Opera's proxies (the other downside is that Opera gets to see everything you send and receive, and I don't think SSL encryption works to protect your data from Opera's proxies, and you thought Google paranoia was bad!).

From Apple's point of view, they can't implement parental controls in Opera, because you never connect to any porn sites when surfing porn. You connect to Opera's proxy.

So Apple has to acknowledge (since they've set up an environment that they claim is "child-safe") that they cannot stop porn on Opera, and therefore Opera operates outside the "safe zone".

Don't worry, your kids can still download all the cartoon violence they want. So your values are safe!

non-story

[ItsIllak]

All apps that have unfettered access to the Internet have the 17+ nag screen. Browsers, RSS readers... This isn't a story, this is Apple bashing.

Re:non-story

[natehoy]

Apple has created an environment they can claim is kid-safe. They have a Safari browser that you can enable parental controls on, and (in theory) keep your kids away from looking at melons and sausages and keep them looking at cartoon violence like God intended.

Opera is not "hooked in" to that control. Opera Mini runs proxy servers direct back to Opera and all content is routed through there (to save you on bandwidth and phone battery when rendering complex sites). Apple cannot be made aware of what sites your kids might be accessing, and cannot keep them away from porn and other sites you might find undesirable for them to see.

Therefore, since Opera is not subject to the Apple Parental Control system and can be used to view porn even if Parental Controls are turned on, it has to be marked as such or Apple gets kicked out of the COPA Cabana (*).

(*) The most boring spot north of Havana.

Re:Then Safari should have the same warning!

[natehoy]

Safari respects Apple's Parental Control system. Opera does not. Therefore, Safari does not require a warning since parents can lock it down if they choose, Opera cannot be locked down using any Apple controls so Apple has to warn parents that it falls outside of the "safe zone" and can be used to access porn no matter what Parental Controls are set for the iDevice.

Re:Then Safari should have the same warning!

[natehoy]

I'm not saying the Parental Controls work. We all know they don't really work. The problem is that Safari is subject to them, and Opera bypasses them, therefore Apple cannot even claim a good-faith effort to protect the chilluns from seeing sausage and meatballs or melons and bush on Opera.

It's a legal disclaimer.

Re:This is embarrassing for Apple

[vakuona]

You do realise that TFA is about the Mac App Store right? Not the iOS App Store!

You can still get Opera the old fashioned way.

Not always

[Sycraft-fu]

But for most of their life.

Basically I'd say there were two Apples: The Woz Apple and the Jobs Apple.

Initially Apple was the Woz Apple. He made all the products, Jobs was his marketing guy. Apple was very much about just making cool hardware then. In fact rather than being a premium company, they were an economy company. You got an Apple because it cost less than an IBM, and you could mess with it more. If you've ever seen Woz interviewed, you know where it came from.

However in the early 80s, around when the original Mac launched, the company started to shift to become the Jobs Apple. Woz was away because of his aircraft accident, and when he returned he came back as just a designer, and left not too long after.

At that point Apple started to be all about control. Their products were the sort of thing you used their way. They dictated your experience to you. It was an extremely locked down "doesn't play well with others" platform. However it was really small, so nobody really noticed. Few people got Macs, those that did tended to be rather rabid fanboys so nobody noticed how Apple was actually far worse than most when it came to locking down their platform.

When Jobs was forced out, Apple looked at opening up more but of course we all know how poorly that went. When he came back, the company swung back to being in control stronger than ever. However now, because of their massive consumer electronics division, people are noticing what they do. Apple is becoming more common so more people are noticing how locked down they are.

What's more, they are getting in to more areas, so they have more to control. When they were just a computer and OS company, there wasn't so much, but now they are in to application distribution, consumer electronics, and so on. Means their lock-in can stretch much farther.

But ya, they've had this mentality ever since the mid to early 80s. People just didn't notice so much or gave them a pass because they were "so small" or "not Microsoft."