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Apple Has a New Porn Problem
adeelarshad82 writes "Twitter's new iOS-only app, Vine, was prominently featured by Apple as an 'Editor's Pick' in its App Store the day it launched. However, given Apple's policies for adult content, they may have rushed the whole thing since this past Sunday, a number of news outlets ran stories covering the rise of easily-accessible pornography on the new video sharing app. As Joshua Topolsky explains, the situation draws even more attention to the vague and sometimes confusing rules of Apple's App Store guidelines, and more clearly showcases the sporadic and often unusual criteria the iPhone-maker uses to decide the fates of applications. So it will be interesting to see how Apple handles this given that they've never been shy about banning similarly racy apps in the past."
It's a feature!
To create a compelling story, duh!
Apple loves Twitter. It's 140-char limit and mentality (following celebrity and names rather than participating or creating) really encourages the kind of consumer thinking Apple depends on. I predict that they won't ban, they'll put pressure on Vine to remove adult content.
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
Perhaps the author of TFA is unaware of the fact that iDevices all come with web browsers, which can show porn easily?
Twitter messages already introduced pr0n. 3===D ~~~~ ( @ Y @ )
The G
Now it's really an "open platform". :-)
Where's my ASCII rageface?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Apple hasn't figured out how to get people to sign up for porn using their (known to spouse) iTunes accounts, which means they can't get their 30%. That's their porn problem.
After all, in much the same way their web browser allows access to the most depraved porn mankind has to offer.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
There are HTML5 APIs that Safari for iOS has taken a long time to implement, such as the ability to upload photos taken with the camera app (<input type="file"> was completely unsupported until iOS 6) or the ability to access the device's camera with the user's permission (getUserMedia, still unsupported).
You can watch porn on the Youtube app as well. Or, for that matter, in Safari.
Yes, Apple bans outright porn-o-matic apps and allows these. People seem to think that the App Store censors are like some kind of '60s sci-fi computer. "MUST BAN PORN...CAN'T BAN NATIVE APPS...NATIVE APPS CAN BE USED FOR PORN...ERROR! DOES NOT COMPUTE! *huge tape drives explode*
Maybe, worst case, they add Vine to the PG-13 category, or whatever they call the possible-mature-content section of the store.
Twitter has introduced a video app which works a bit like short tweets. It lets you compose seven second video loops.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
More and more things become acceptable as the stock hovers around 450.
It is people who think porn is a problem which is the problem.
It's nice to see people who are utterly clueless about Apple users misunderstand other groups of people to the same extent.
If you're going to be clueless at least COMMIT, and by God you have done so.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Apple vs. Porn the showndown!
this gives new definition to "you're holding it wrong" ...
I'm not sure whether this applies to other web browsers, but Safari at least has the ability to be locked down via parental controls.
However, I'm kind of looking forward to the day when the parental controls fail on some site, and an angry parent sues Apple for the content being displayed. If they have an anti-porn policy and parental controls in place to be "family friendly" (who under 18 can enter into a cell phone contract in the first place again?), then they have responsibility if "anything dirty" gets through.
It's only an Apple problem if you make it a problem.
won't load pornmd.com with specially formatted pages and videos for the iPhone. This is a stupid story...
This is all part of Apple's plan to rescue their plunging stock prices!
My karma is bad. Don't get too close!!!
I love this report about the article:
It's got to be fake, right ?
You have got to be kidding, do you seriously think the pornography seekers had to wait until now to easily find porn? Des slashdot have to join in what looks like a blatent attempt to tarnish the Apple App Store by associating it with porn.
"Vine lets you explore video categories with a hashtag, and a few quick searches for #sex, #porn, and some others that we'd prefer not to write down here show a number of graphic videos that feature male genitalia and recordings of pornographic videos streaming on laptops. That's just scratching the surface "
AccountKiller
So twitter reinvented ytmnd, just like they reinvented texting?
Whoop dee fucking doo.
It is notable that you can surf porn like crazy with Apple's own tool: Safari.
Apple is not my mother. I already have a mother. She's already told me what she thinks, advised me, and set me loose within the world. Apple has no legitimate place in that hierarchy of trust and guidance. It belongs entirely to me.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
First off Mobile Safari and all the other reskins(the other iOS browsers). A huge chunk of internet porn is perfect visible by just having a browser. And with the adoption of HTML5 in the next few years, I'd go as far as saying 99% of the porn will be visible by just having a web browser(even with a gimped javascript engine on iOS). If Apple was really serious about porn, they wouldn't have a browser in first place. Or maybe they'd use something like Opera mini, that goes through their server, gets censored, and then goes to the client device. The only porn that I don't think will be visible using a browser are a few Japanese 3D erogames(the visual novels can be done using HTML5. actually I'm surprised they haven't done so yet)
Then there is also offline viewing. iOS may not have file managers and it's codec selecting is limited, but its more than enough to view a video/pics uploaded uploaded through iTunes.
The apps. Apple policies are BS. DeviantArt is filled with artistic nudes, softcore porn and furry and it has multiple apps on itunes. Pixiv(japanese deviantart like site) is about 30% hardcore hentai porn and it has apps as well. Reddit and its japanese great grand father 2ch have several native clients for iOS, and they are filled with porn. Twitter already had links to porn and its integrated on iOS. It's not very hard to find youtube videos with some nudity or obscene language and there is an app for that. The only popular website with NSFW content that seems to be banned from the Appstore is 4chan.
Finally, the hypocrisy: their music and video stores have tons of potentially offensive content(not just nudity and sexual terms) that would be banned from the AppStore right off the bat. Never really understood the fuss about the apps.
The almost near instant removal of the 500px app last week which went above and beyond Apple's supposed guidelines is more proof that the company does not apply it's rules equally to all companies.
Why the hell has this been modded troll? The 500px app WAS suddenly removed last week on the grounds that there is nudity and that it might have the potential get into the hands of children If you have the app installed then you are probably a member of the website AND have an interest in photography, therefore you are well aware of the nudity. If the standards by which these rejections are being made are based on potential, then Apple is being hypocritical and biased.
Be gone from my sight or prepare to feel my flaming wraith!
Apple is hardly unique in that they have different set of rules for different companies, I'd say that is pretty much the norm, it's just that with the app store it become much more visible than it normally does.
"I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
There is still a Playboy app available for iOS in the App Store.
We're receiving reports from sources on the ground in Cupertino that there is PORN on the INTERNET! Stay tuned to the Obvious News Network for in-depth analysis of what this new internet pornography phenomenon means for Apple and iOS app vendors, coming up at six o'clock.
0 1 - just my two bits
The almost near instant removal of the 500px app last week which went above and beyond Apple's supposed guidelines is more proof that the company does not apply it's rules equally to all companies.
Why the hell has this been modded troll?
The 500px app WAS suddenly removed last week on the grounds that there is nudity and that it might have the potential get into the hands of children If you have the app installed then you are probably a member of the website AND have an interest in photography, therefore you are well aware of the nudity.
If the standards by which these rejections are being made are based on potential, then Apple is being hypocritical and biased.
I'm sure it's pure coincidence that nobody downloaded the Android version of the app until news broke that Apple had banned the iOS app after some "users" had complained about child porn showing up. One could almost suspect a viral marketing campaign.
Just like the banning of the "drone attack" app had generated much more publicity than its approval would have.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
And that bug will be fixed by a future version.
I don't mind if Apples censors everything to death, because that's exactly what I would expect from Apple. Maybe one day the legions of braindead fanboys will finally get tired of having their toes stepped upon, and Apple will finally go the way of Betamax and HD-DVD. DARPA may have made the Internet, but porn made it prolific.
The 500px app didn't have the appropriate age rating I mentioned. Funnily enough, 500px is back on the App Store now. The change? The age rating.
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