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Apple Bans Sale of Comic Book On All iOS Apps Over Gay Sex Images - Update
New submitter RicardoGCE writes "Apple has banned all iOS apps from carrying Saga #12, a comic book created by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, and published by Image Comics. The reason for the ban is the depiction of oral sex appearing on the computer monitor that serves as the head of one of the characters. The content has been deemed pornographic, and sale of the comic has been blocked. Comixology will allow users to sync their purchases, however, so users of their app will be able to read the book on their i-devices. They just won't be able to buy it through the iOS version of the app."
Vaughan himself points out the sexual representation in this issue ("two postage stamp-sized images") are not as graphic or as prominent as other situations from past issues. The difference is that this depiction is of a homosexual encounter rather than a heterosexual one. Image Comics took the high road, saying they regret the decision, but that it's "Apple’s decision and it would be inappropriate for us to tell another company how to run its business."
Update: 04/10 18:36 GMT by S : As it turns out, reports of Apple censorship were wrong. Comixology posted today on their blog that they were the ones who decided to remove the issue of Saga from the app. They did so because they were trying to follow Apple's content guidelines. The issue will be available via their app soon.
Update: 04/10 18:36 GMT by S : As it turns out, reports of Apple censorship were wrong. Comixology posted today on their blog that they were the ones who decided to remove the issue of Saga from the app. They did so because they were trying to follow Apple's content guidelines. The issue will be available via their app soon.
So the appropriate response to being censored now is to roll over? No fight whatsoever?
"We are Samurai, the Keyboard...Cowboys"
We live in an age where big corporations can legislate morality
Are we "thinking different" enough yet?
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
Any sufficiently large corporation is indistinguishable from a government.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
I have never been tempted to buy a ticket into Apple's "walled garden". It's not that it's overtly bad,
Right, it's not that it's overtly bad, it's just that the system is set up in a way that someday, it's inevitable will cause you pain. Just like monarchies can be great in the beginning when the king is benign and an excellent administrator (hey, the trains run on time!) Eventually someone else will come into power, and you don't want to be involved in a system like that. Best to avoid it when it's easiest, from the beginning.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
It's not actually about gay rights, the author is trying to make it seem like being about gay rights in order to get more attention. If Apple were actually anti-gay, why did the donate so much money to stop proposition 8? It's more likely Apple just never noticed it until that time.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I hate to defend Apple, but you got to admit, it's Apple's own turf, directly or indirectly we're talking about their servers. Even if you try to get the comic through a 3rd party app, the app must be downloaded through their servers. Is it an asshole thing to do? Since they don't let applications to be installed from outside the Appstore, I say yes. Who to blame? Their beloved costumers, as they are the ones funding this system.
Apple is not telling them how to run their business. Image Comics still can create sell their content anywhere else they want, if allowed(try selling gay porn at a church bookstore). And Apple can't do nothing about it.
I think they could win a lawsuit against Apple. Apple blocked direct sales through the app, but still sells it themselves. They are abusing their "monopoly" in the market to block access through a 3rd party while allowing it through theirs. If it's so objectionable it must be removed from the marketplace, why did they remove it from everywhere in the market place they don't own, but still allow it on the marketplace the one place Apple does own?
Learn to love Alaska
I'd be curious to see the examples they were talking about. I'd say in general that male genitalia are the most pornographic body part of either gender, and that images involving men are generally considered more pornographic than those involving women, ie two women is less pornographic than a mixed pair, which is less pornographic than two guys. Basically I'm saying it's not clear that it's discrimination at work so much as different standards as to what constitutes pornography.
I stole this Sig
bingo.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
RTFA. Apple let plenty of heterosexual sex pass.
Apparently, the influence of the reality distortion field still hasn't worn off.
Or, what often happens is that people don't complain until it's "gay", then Apple responds to the first complaint of "porn". The timing is based on readership, not Apple, in most cases.
Learn to love Alaska
No, but what is worthy of nerd rage is when a company discriminates and prohibits depictions of gay activities when it allows depictions of straight activities. And the "rage" is not so much over the discrimination itself, but over Apple's hypocrisy and pretense of being a liberal and modern organization.
To play devil's advocate, perhaps Apple simply didn't get any complaints until the issue involving gay sex, or that they had gotten a complaint from a previous episode but hadn't gotten around to shutting it down until it coincided with the one with gay sex.
So what we're basically saying is that Apple the company that essentially takes it's name and logo from the suicide method of a famous homosexual http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing although Apple deny this. What we're saying is that they are homophobes?
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
Apple is a company that decided their business structure and standards, long damn ago.
If you haven't clued in from the very beginning, with 1 mouse button and no console, they think you are TOO DAMN STUPID to make choices for yourself.
This has been reflected in their products, software and hardware from day one. So, no surprises here.
Since they assign themselves guardianship over their faithful devotees( the stupid of the world, by their vision) Apple wouldn't want that image to fall into the hand of some kid who might get the idea " hey , maybe I can talk Billy into putting mine in his mouth, that would feel neater than whackin' it myself" and then decide arbitrarily that it must mean he is gay and summarily embrace the lifestyle ,erroneously. Nope, Apple is there to protect everyone from themselves, just like a Repubmocrat in Federal office. They know better than YOU, after all. Which is why they have such a huge following. There is a demographic of people out there, that don't like to think for themselves in real life, are willing to let others authoritate their will, and be parented in a strange Freudian sense, by others. ( This may also explain the last century of Repubmocrat tyranny, as well)
So what is all the surprise and silly noises about? This is not outside the historical scope of Apple.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Apple the notoriously gay unfriendly company has an anti-gay agenda?!