Porn Still Available on the iPhone
By Ed Oswald | Friday, July 3, 2009 at 11:30 am
After Apple removed “The Hottest Girls” application from the App Store, you may have thought that porn was gone from the iPhone. Think again: a company called iPorn pointed out today that it’s still in business.
These are the same folks that trotted a horse-drawn carriage in front of the Moscone Center during WWDC, complete with five scantily-clad women to advertise their product. You can bet that Apple was likely none too happy about that.
iPorn is able to stay afloat amid Apple’s likely opposition because it is a web application, which the company does not regulate. It’s one of the pitfalls of the Web Application structure — while it may have allowed Apple to give developers an “in” to the iPhone, it also made it possible for just about anybody to create an app.
It’s apparently a hit — iPorn claims some 45,000 registered users. Social networking tools are available, as well as your typical porn site offerings. So in essence, its everything “The Hottest Girls” was, and more.
The fact that applications like iPorn exist bring into question the possible need for more regulation of these Web Applications. Do these services act much in the same that regular ones do, so that parents can block stuff like this out? Faking your age to gain access to adult websites is pretty easy.
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July 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Just because Playboy is sold at Barnes & Noble doesn’t mean that Apple will allow it at their retail store. Give Apple some credit, they understand that there are diffrent way to get access to this material, all they are doing is refusing to be distributors of adult material (porn if you must give it a name). Just because Safari is offered to browse the Internet, does not mean that Apple (or any other company that provides a browser), condone the use to view porn.
Apple tries very hard to be a family friendly brand. If that means removing some apps from their store (online or retail) to maintain this image, so be it. It is their progative to choose how they want to protray themselves to the public.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
No i’m not criticizing Apple at all Daniel — but I am saying they may need to look into ways to closing loopholes for web applications. It’s not their fault these porn companies are doing all they can to get this stuff on the iPhone…
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Ed, I should have done a better job of reading your article. I recant my rebuke of your article.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I’m sorry, are you actually somehow promoting the ideas that:
– A web ‘application’ is somehow different from any other website, porn or otherwise, available through Safari? Clue, It’s not. It just has its HTML/CSS tweaked to fit the iPhone screen. It does not interact with iPhone OS at all other than being displayed as a web page in Mobile Safari.
– That Apple, or anyone else, should add the regulation of such websites to its agenda?
Really?! Funny, I didn’t hear you mention any of this in relation to desktop web browsers and the plethora of porn websites available on them. I guess you figured if you mentioned porn in an article you’d attract a lot of attention. Unfortunately you lost credibility in the process.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I’m siding with GR on this one. Asking Apple to regulate web apps is asking Apple to stretch outside of their jurisdiction. The App Store is 100% theirs, so they can do whatever they want with it, but the internet is shared. The most they can do is decide to not link to them in the web apps portion of their website.
Besides, it’s the parents’ job to watch over their kids.