Pornography? Is there an app for that?

It seems that there is an iPhone application for everything, from turning off the kitchen lights, to ordering Starbucks. So obviously an app for porn would not seem too far away?

Interestingly enough, Apple has received criticism for some of their more ‘risqué’ applications, from self- respecting women and concerned parents alike. Apple responded by pulling a few of these applications, but not all of them.

It is important to note that these recently pulled apps involved scantily clad women, yet no actual full on nudity. Obviously porn is retrievable on the iPhone from its internet browser, yet the only application that was ever pornographic was called ‘Hottest Girls,’ which originally showed photos of women wearing next to nothing, however when they added topless content, it was removed by Apple as an application. When Apple took this action their spokesperson Tom Neumayr released the following statement:

"Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store."


The application that was removed, illustrating how you could take your categorical pick! (minus showing the nudity)

Recently, Apple dealt with complaints dealing with the following applications: Dirty Fingers (an app where a girl in a swimsuit looked as if she was cleaning the iPhone screen), SlideHer (which was a puzzle game where you had to reassemble a scantily clad woman’s body), and Scratch Off (which was an app where with the swipe of your finger you could smudge a woman’s clothing off, revealing her undergarments.) These programs were consistently on the list of the most downloaded apps, however Apple decided to remove these apps because of concerned customers.

Pictured Below is SlideHer and Dirty Fingers Apps

However, as commendable as the 'removal' may be, there are still several other apps that display the same type of content, yet have not been removed. For example, Playboy has an application that shares photos of scantily clad women, Hooters has a puzzle game app (same concept as SlideHer, which was removed), and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit has also been deemed acceptable.
Example of a still 'allowed' SlideHer app:


It is just interesting that although Apple seems to be taking the high road in removing content that may be deemed offensive or inappropriate; they are still keeping that same type of content under their offered applications, if it is brand name.

I think that it is great Apple wants to maintain a squeaky clean and family-friendly image. I also think it is a good idea to not allow full scale pornographic applications.

Yet, if Apple is going to say they do not support this type of content, then just REMOVE ALL OF IT or KEEP ALL OF IT, don’t pick and choose because of the name.

Just because Hooters or Playboy releases the app, does not make it any friendlier to children or any less misogynistic to women. It’s the EXACT same thing and serves the same purpose whether done by Playboy or Dirty Fingers.

It’s nice to receive good press, and I do commend Apple for taking some action and striving to be a responsible brand, however it’s all or nothing in this case.



Until Next Post,
G.

Link to The New York Times Article