Contentinople - Erin Barker - News Bits: Apple's iPorn Problems Get Worse

Written by Erin Barker

Thursday, July 2. 2009 at 11:15 AM EDT Post a comment

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Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s iPorn app problems aren't over, even after pulling the "Hottest Girls" iPhone app last week.

The latest controversy is centered around a different app, "BeautyMeter," which allows users to upload pictures of themselves to be rated by other users. Unfortunately, despite the app's "17+" rating, a "purported 15-year-old girl" uploaded a topless picture to the app, according to Wired, obviously constituting an even more serious issue than that of "Hottest Girls."

Apple pulled the app today, but we suspect that this sort of content will keep showing up on iPhone apps unless the company changes its approval system. Of course, when Apple approved the app, this illicit content wasn't present, but apparently apps are left relatively unchecked after initial approval -- creating a loophole that seems pretty easy for developers or users to exploit.

According to Wired, Apple wouldn't be legally liable for issues of child porn as long as those photos weren't there when it approved the app. But isn't there an ethical obligation to keep the iPhone safe for kids?

In other news:

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has introduced a new feature for its new Bing search engine that shows the Tweets of selected Twitterers on the search page. Included in this feature are Tweets from such luminaries as Al Gore, Kara Swisher... and Ryan Seacrest. So if, for instance, you were to Bing "Ryan Seacrest Twitter," you would see his last two Tweets, like "Kevin Jonas engaged? 33.33% of the nation's tween girls just got depressed http://bit.ly/mZoHP."

Coke and Pepsi, the ultimate rivals, have become friends -- on Twitter Inc. at least. The two have begun following each other on the site, after being prompted by a Tweet from Amnesia Razorfish's Iain MacDonald.

After it emerged yesterday that Twitter has trademarked the word "Tweet", many became concerned that the company would sue popular apps like TweetDeck that use the word. But co-founder Biz Stone reassured us today in a blog post:

We have applied to trademark Tweet because it is clearly attached to Twitter from a brand perspective but we have no intention of "going after" the wonderful applications and services that use the word in their name when associated with Twitter. In fact, we encourage the use of the word Tweet. However, if we come across a confusing or damaging project, the recourse to act responsibly to protect both users and our brand is important.

Tags: Apple, Business, iPhone, Microsoft, Twitter

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