After being removed from the iOS App Store last week for problems with users submitting pornographic images, photo sharing app 500px has made some adjustments and is back in the game. The biggest change is that the app now features a way for users to report images that violate Apple’s draconian terms. It’s stupid for Apple to go to such great lengths to kill apps that people are using to share naked picture when Safari is still the best porn app for iOS.
Yesterday I wrote about Twitter’s new video service Vine being overrun with porn, and pointed to 500px’s removal as an indication that Vine could face a similar fate. Now that 500px is back, does that mean Apple will leave Vine alone? Probably not, because Apple still seems to have a seek-and-destroy policy on any apps (besides Safari) that can be used to view porn.
Forcing 500px to add a “report” button to call attention to inappropriate content wasn’t the only step Apple took before letting the app back into its store. They also changed the rating to the most severe, 17+, that iTunes has to offer.
Vine already has a feature letting users flag content as mature, but it is currently rated at 12+. Could changing its rating keep Vine safe from Apple’s bonkers anti-porn policy? It could, since Apple only seems to want app developers to make it look like they can stop users from posting naked images.
It doesn’t matter what Apple, or 500px, or Vine, or any other developer do. If a device connects to the Internet, it can access porn. If that device has a camera, and is connected to the Internet, then people are going to use it to send pictures of their bits and pieces to people.
(via The Verge, image via iTunes)
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Published: Jan 29, 2013 05:50 pm