E-book barred from App Store due to obscene content
By Darren Murph 
posted December 24th 2008 4:13AM
posted December 24th 2008 4:13AM
posted December 24th 2008 4:13AM
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...you seem to be quite knowledgeable. I think we know what's on your iPhone.
No, it's okay, we don't judge.
But the low rank button does.
Said it before .. will say it again Apple != Freedom .. this message bought to you by the thought police.
wouldn't the thought police encourage people thinking apple was freedom
just a thought
Repeat after me "we've all got minds of our own! ..."
Brian: Please, please, please listen! I've got one or two things to say.
The Crowd: Tell us! Tell us both of them!
Brian: Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for your selves! You're ALL individuals!
The Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
The Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!
Man in crowd: I'm not...
The Crowd: Sch!
The guy who wrote the book works for CNET and it gave him and his mates a chance to write about how evil Apple are. It sounds like such a great idea on a slow news day but I think it would be worth your time looking into how this happened. The Guardian in the UK did some coverage on this week - including quoting some of the "sensational" stuff - and it was low quality soft core porn quotes at best.
So just remember children that when a writer for an online publication gets his book banned then there may be a little more to it than meets the eye.
If you want real banned books on your ipod you can download things like James Joyce's Ulysses or Lady Chatterley's Lover using Stanza - Just you aren't allowed access to this storm in a teacup book by some third rate hack. (That said he could make it available in Stanza and you could get it just the same)
Erm, yeah censorship of books is a 'storm in a teacup' to you eh, because you THINK you can believe someone else who says he doesn't like it and if there's someone who doesn't like it it's all OK for apple to censor, great way to go around in life that is.
If you actually read what I wrote - I was commenting on a) the fact that the material the guy wrote was crap anyway and b) If he wanted to get it on to your iPhone there are plenty of ways of doing so which don't involve you producing your own app.
Unfortunately what will happen is that Apple will relent and this idiot will get 1,000's of people buying his book all of whom will read about 3 words and realize just how crap it is.
If you are interested in how crap it is here is a link to the Guardian's web site I mentioned in my original posting which has two quotes from the book.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/dec/22/internet-censorship
I suppose the irony of CNET not being able to quote from the book because it falls outside of their censorship rules is lost on you.
Just another reason why apple is going to either
a) get pwned when some decent hardware comes out for the Android platform
b) have to do a massive about face to avoid point a) above....
451?
232.7777777777778
The rest of the world is on Celsius.
The book wasn't metric.
(not even apple can change that)
Good thing Steve Jobs isn't president, then.
And really, a novel is a million times more meaningful and educational than the like of iFart. Must be Apple banning literature and education like dictators tend to do to make its subjects more domicile...
Think Different = We mean don't think different, think like we want you too
Think Different = Don't think at all, just do what we tell you to do.
They also tried to ban the Bible until someone reminded them that there was an apple in the opening scene.
Amusing, and yet.. such a nice concept, banning the bible, if you want to ban anything ban religion I say, pity that it's the bible thumpers that do/enforce the censoring though making the concept self-defeating.
1984?
Kind of ironic, isn't it?
I actually thought Engadget wasn't going to post this story, but good on them that they did.
I would've banned it for including that obnoxious, pretentious "A Novel" subtitle on the cover. Never mind the obscene content INside the book.
@ Shunnabunich
I don't understand.
-An opinion
So Apple fans, how is big brother treating you?
Keeping you safe from dirty words, yet letting you view murder and violence?
Apple - think different... Ya, right.
Good grief, people go nuts with hyperbole here. Guess what happens when I don't see a book that I want at a particular store? Yup, I go to another store. Apple isn't the government, people; they have no power to permit or restrict actions outside of their own little bubble.
I heard porn is better on pc anyway!
"TOO" not "TO"
I'M AN IDIOT!!!
It sure would be nice if folks would use the word "obscene" within its proper context. Obscene content (which oddly enough always seems to be sexual -- violence is apparently quite wholesome) is illegal. Perhaps what the monkeys at Apple meant was that the content was deemed "indecent" but their simian proto-brains.
obscene? you mean like apples products in general?