The iPhone App Censorship Madness Continues

By Harry McCracken | Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 2:46 pm

Eucalyptus is an iPhone application that that lets you download and read books from the expansive Project Gutenberg library of free public-domain works. Judging from its Web site, it’s more or less comparable to Amazon’s Kindle application–except all the content is free, and the interface looks to be prettier. The asking price is $9.99–steep for an iPhone program, but I’m tempted.

Except Apple won’t let us buy Eucalyptus: According to developer James Montgomerie, it rejected the program for including material that is “obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory.”

The material in question is the Kama Sutra, which has been offending (and intriguing) people for centuries. It’s not included with Eucalyptus–no book is–but it’s available at Project Gutenberg, and you can therefore use Eucalyptus to read it.

The thing is, you can also use multiple approved iPhone e-readers to peruse it, including the Kindle app, Stanza, and Bookshelf. If Apple has previously banned any e-reader because someone might use it to download and read a dirty book, it’s news to me. Apple clearly isn’t forcing Amazon to censor books that are available on the Kindle app–a search for “sex” in Amazon’s Kindle bookstore is, well, downright revolting (NSFW, or anyplace else tasteful) in spots.

If the mere fact that an app could be used to download something dirty was enough to ban it from the iPhone, of course, Apple’s own Safari would never have made it onto the phone: The Web is bursting at the seams with items that are obscene, pornographic, offensive, and/or defamatory. And I still haven’t seen a good explanation as to why Apple is willing to sell music whose very titles are nasty, as well as some pretty earthy movies–but wants stuff on the iPhone to be inoffensive.

My guess is that Apple’s policies don’t really ban Eucalyptus. It seems far more likely that the app fell victim to an overzealous and underinformed member of Apple’s staff who simply twisted the intent of the App Store’s rules and applied them in a way that nobody ever meant to enforce them. At this point, the biggest problem with Apple’s iPhone App store policies isn’t that they’re unreasonable: It’s that they seem to be applied in an utterly random fashion. It’s crummy for developers of worthwhile software–and, more important, crummy for iPhone owners. Longterm, it’s also crummy for Apple, since it’s one of the few major black marks against an otherwise extraordinary platform.

What’s next? Eucalyptus developer James Montgomerie says he’s decided to “rent out” his soul by creating a version of the program that manually blocks the Kama Sutra. It’s unclear whether Apple will give the go-ahead to this variant. And it looks possible, at least, that the parental controls planned for the iPhone 3.0 software will render the issue moot by allowing iPhone owners to determine whether or not questionable stuff can be downloaded onto the phone.

Neither of those solutions is entirely satisfying, though: It’s ludicrous for Montgomerie to have to censor one of the most widely-published books ever printed when it’s available in other iPhone e-readers, and it would be silly if Eucalyptus was hobbled with being labeled an adults-only app when and if it makes its way to the App Store. I’m writing this post in part because I hope that this whole fiasco gets enough attention to prompt Apple to fast-track Eucalyptus through the acceptance process. And I’m optimistic enough to think that’s a likely scenario.

19 Comments

Read more: Apple, E-Readers, Eucalyptus, iPhone, Smartphones

8 Comments For This Post

Chip Says:
May 21st, 2009 at 3:01 pm

I think we’ve seen this story many times before. Developers dumping large number of apps on a staff doing its best to move them along.
Errors get made. Errors get corrected.
But the outrages in between seem overzealous.

Jared Newman Says:
May 21st, 2009 at 4:07 pm

In related news, Apple banned the “Hot Dog Down a Hallway” game due to sexual innuendo. Only problem is, an earlier version of the game was approved and is still available for download.

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/05/21/apple-bans-quothot-dog-down-hallwayquot-game

Drew Says:
May 21st, 2009 at 6:58 pm

Apple needs to ban Safari too.. it allows access to obscene amounts ob obscenity!! XD

myphotoscout Says:
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:04 am

This seems to be the price we pay. Apple lures people with an extraordinarily well designed system, software that just works and designs which are pleasing but controls the content. Content is power, Apple has always understood this (see iTunes).
This is part of the reason I did not start programming for the iPhone, despite my urge. Another was the somewhat understandable limitation that the SDK only runs on Macintosh computers.

JDoors Says:
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 am

Apple should block the phone function of the i-Phone to prevent obscene phone calls. :

โปรโมทเว็บฟรี Says:
September 17th, 2009 at 2:38 pm

Apple needs to ban Safari too..

it allows access to obscene amounts ob obscenity!! XD

тайцзицюань Says:
November 4th, 2009 at 10:17 am

Apple needs to ban Safari too..!!!

iPhone Apps Says:
May 31st, 2010 at 1:37 pm

When did Apple become so very Puritanical!? I mean, I can understand them forbidding some sexual game applications or others that are offensive or to risquee…But, this is the Kama Sutra we are talking about..they sell it at Barnes and Noble! Apple is really starting to irk me with their practices and, as a person who has not yet stepped up to smartphones, they are really nudging me towards Google’s direction.

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