back to article Apple brands UK tabloid 'obscene'

Apple may put News International's nose out of joint with its definition of 'obscene', after rejecting a newspaper-reading iPhone app for reasons of rudeness. Newspaper(s), an application that renders content from the world's newspapers, was rejected by iTunes because it included the UK's Sun newspaper - complete with topless …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Sun

    Is read by ignorant peado chasing knuckle draggers, so who really cares? I doubt there are enough oxygen thiefs out there with an ability to use anything but a flidded out fist to use a phone anyway.

  2. DirkGently
    Alert

    Categorization

    I agree - The Sun shouldn't be categorized under news... it should be under fiction.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Welcome to USA

    United States of America or probably as per this joke (http://www.anekdot.ru/an/an0812/j081209;10.html) - United States of Absinth.

    Boobs - baaaaaaaaaaad, Guns goooooooooooood.

    A whole country that needs to go out a bit more, if possible onto beach inhabited by Germans wearing standard German beach uniform: sandals, backpack and a hat. _ONLY_ sandals, backpack and a hat.

    Rinse, repeat until sanity is obtained.

  4. raving angry loony

    deal

    Europe rightfully kicked most of its Puritans off the continent. Unfortunately, they went to North America, mostly managed to wipe out the local population, and are now running things in the US and Canada.

    To them, showing someone get shot in the face, or getting stabbed on live TV is completely acceptable, but showing a nipple is horrifying. It's a sick, sick society whose attitudes explain so much of what is wrong with the world today.

    Frankly, I think that banning the Sun is a good thing, but not for THAT reason.

  5. Frank Bough
    Unhappy

    Hmmm, Page 3

    Honestly, if I were the editor of the Sun I'd stop Page 3 tomorrow but when I see a topless piccie of Keeley or Poppy they're often simply gasp-inducing. The thought of those beautiful girls not being there makes me die a little inside. And, yes, I'm a total hypocrite, if my daughter decided to become a glamour model I'd be absolutely mortified. Oh the myriad contradictions of human sexuality...

  6. Michael Hawkes
    Jobs Horns

    War is Peace

    Reading the article, it reminded me of Orwell, Big Brother, and 1984, then I remembered the commercial Apple used to launch the Macintosh. Have they become what they once mocked?

  7. E_Nigma
    Paris Hilton

    Could Someone Define Pronography?

    Depictions of nudity and sexuality (and possibly other lewd and obscene things) created (solely) for the purpose of obtaining material gain? In that case, the page three falls into the category. They put bare breasts into their paper so that more people would buy it, it's as simple as that. Yes, it's simple entertainment (just like the rest of porn) and it's the "mildest" variety of porn available and it's not something that I find offensive nor do I think that App Store policies aren't a little over the top, but let's call things their real name and not be hypocrites for a change. "Family entertainment", one would think that it's possibly educational content?!

  8. Michael
    Go

    It could be funny.

    Now all we need is the Sun to retaliate by running stories about how by allowing shops called "Stormfront" Apple are supporting the white nationalist movement, and then it might kick off into a really entertaining story.

  9. John Macintyre
    Jobs Horns

    Safari?

    So will they ban safari as it can view major pron? or is that too hypocritical?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ummm

    i thought due to the allowing of real boobs with iboob but not fake cartoon boobs apple had already said that real boobs were ok!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmmm....

    I guess Apple must deem me obscene every time I point iPhone Safari at http://ifap.to...

  12. Mike Dolan
    Coat

    Knuckle draggers

    There are 2 classes of people. Those who read^H^H^H^H buy the Sun and those who have evolved sufficiently to stand-upright to prevent their knuckles from dragging along the ground.

  13. darkmooink
    Jobs Horns

    adult cat

    what is wrong with having an adult category in itunes then problem solved

  14. Craig
    Thumb Down

    Page 3 isn't porn

    Page 3 is just a lass with her nips on show. Nothing sexual about the image, other than the girl is attractive. Anyone who thinks a bit of natural nudity is somehow wrong should ask themselves why...

  15. Dan
    Thumb Up

    "New category in App Store..."

    So does this mean the new parental controls will allow pr0n on the iphone?!

  16. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Thumb Up

    The late Bill Hicks...

    "So what is pornography? Any image or passage of text, produced with the explicit intention to arouse or sexually stimulate."

    "Hmmm, well they had better ban those Wrigley's ads. When I see those two 16 year olds pulling out sticks on that TV ad, it ain't chewing gum I'm thinking about!"

    They should probably ban about 75% of all adult product advertising nowadays, as that falls into that definition too. The advertising industry would collapse overnight if we followed that definition and banned pornography!

  17. J
    Joke

    @adult cat

    Uff, for a second there I thought you'd start talking about bestiality, or feline sexuality, or something...

  18. Simon Langley
    Thumb Down

    Page 3 is porn

    Like most other Reg readers I feel utter contempt for the Sun and its readers. I also feel utter contempt for the fact that breasts are more shocking to Americans than graphic violence - look at the Janet Jackson incident for example.

    However, the bare breasts on page 3 are not natural nudity. They are there solely for the sexual titillation of the male readers. I have absolutely no problem with pictures of breasts in some circumstances, so I was right behind the breastfeeding women on Facebook, but page 3, while rather mild and relatively harmless, is nevertheless pornographic. I fully agree with Apple on this.

    To use the example one of the earlier posters gave, would I object to my daughter appearing on page 3 (she is only three so it is somewhat unlikely at the moment)? Damn right I would. If she were an adult and there were a photograph of her breastfeeding her baby published would I mind that? Certainly not. There is a very clear difference between the two.

  19. Joey

    Re: Page 3 isn't porn

    It is exploitive and demeaning to the girls who agree to be exploited and demeaned for hard cash regardless!

  20. Andy Turner

    Of course it's porn

    It's just extremely mild porn, or "titilation" as they like to put it. There's no other reason to put some nudity of a young girl in the paper each day. It's not like it's educational or of interest to anyone but teen/adult males.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    The Sun

    Is not a newspaper, and is only family freindly if your family consists of retarded rednecks.

    Gotta agree with apple on this one.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    The sun isn't a newspaper

    It's poor quality toilet paper. The best thing you can do with anything of Murdoch's is to wipe your behind with it.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @Page 3 isn't porn

    Agree entirely but then again the Sun isn't a newspaper.

  24. Gilbert Wham

    Wow...

    AC @ 15:06: You believe sanity can be restored by looking at *NAKED GERMANS*?

    Jesus.

  25. Steen Hive
    Flame

    Page 3

    Is absolutely the least offensive part of the obscenity that is that vile rag.

  26. Martin Silver badge

    Page 3 isn't porn

    But it is illegal if the headline for the pictures of famous Ms Fox is correct

    "Sam, 16, Quits A-Levels for Ooh-Levels."

  27. Dave Bell

    Some back issues are illegal

    It used to be that some Page 3 girls were only 16.

    Under current UK child porn law those pictures are child porn.

    I wouldn't call them children, but that's the law.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Septics :(

    I now live in America (for my sins) and I am always amazed by attitudes to moral issues on US TV. Here is a list of things that are permitted on network TV:

    Penis enlargement adverts (they are called "natural male enhancement" but use gratuitous sexual innuendo to peddle penis pills). These adverts occur on many channels popular with children and during prime time or earlier when kids are likely to be watching.

    Graphic violence. Shoot-outs, images of death and mutilation, etc. All allowed at any time of the day or night.

    Graphic drug abuse. I watched a Steve-O documentary at the weekend, and they showed him sniffing cocaine and huffing nitrous as well as various other drug related things. There was a written warning about graphic drug abuse being shown, but by showing details kids could learn how to do something and experiment.

    Swear words that aren't on the official list of swear words. This includes many words that wouldn't be allowed before the watershed in the UK.

    Now for a list of things that aren't allowed.

    Any swear words that are on a particular list. This rule applies any time of the day or night. It makes most modern movies unwatchable since they badly dub them. It also accounts for the ridiculous use of the following sed script in the Battlestar Galactica scripts: s/fuck/frek/g.

    Any nudity of any sort ever. Again making many modern films unwatchable.

    In the UK I used to record loads of films from TV to watch. In the US I'm considering getting rid of cable because it costs too much and I watch nothing.

  29. Peyton

    @Welcome to USA

    Why do they wear a hat to the beach?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Not just Sun readers...

    You don't need to be a Sun reader to appreciate a nicely-proportioned nubile... like our favourite moderatrix, for instance. ;-)

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Bah

    Ok Apple are really starting to wear on my nerves. They make great kit and I love the OS but business wise it's getting to a point that even the positive points often aren't enough to outweigh some of the mindless bull shit stunts they pull. This whole amorphous cloak and dagger censoring of the App store is going to bite them square in the ass if they aren't careful (I wont even go into the whole NIN app fiasco). And sooner rather than later. If it does I for one will be standing with the rest of their customer base who actually have a brain saying "serves you right for starting to act like such an ass".

  32. ffrankmccaffery

    lost

    i dont know which to hate more apple or the sun

  33. jake Silver badge

    @AC 15:37 & general comment.

    "i thought due to the allowing of real boobs with iboob but not fake cartoon boobs apple had already said that real boobs were ok!"

    Uhh ... It's been a while since I was last in Blighty, but from what I can remember, the boobs on Page 3 were rarely (if ever) "real", as in home-grown (as it were)[1].

    And for the record, not all Yanks are Puritans. The sexually repressed set are the right-wing religious minority.

    [1] That's got to be the ugliest sentence I've ever constructed! My English A-level teacher is probably spinning in her grave :-)

  34. E_Nigma

    Re: adult cat

    Not quite. There's no reason why a newspaper-reader application should be forced into such a category. The application got banned only because one of the newspapers available through it traditionally publishes one picture of a topless girl on it's third page. While I consider Sun's "our tits are all about family values" attitude total BS, Apple's decision (and proposal for resubmission of the app once a suitable category is available) is no better.

  35. Dave The Cardboard Box

    The Sun

    I remember a story on page three about a woman who may (or more likely, may not) have flashed at her neighbour. According to the Sun she said "look at my t*ts". The asterisk was theirs not mine. What a shower of hypocritical shit. So let's applaud a random act of censorship for getting it right for once. It was bound to happen some time.

  36. Pete Silver badge

    The real reason ...

    ... for not having a Sun reading app, is that the Sun should be obscene and not heard (groan).

    Really, it does publish a lot of obscenities - such as it's version of the truth. However, nudity is a long way from obscenity unless you're from a prudish, intolerant country where the uninformed rants of the vocal few have completely overridden the mature and unspoken attitudes of the overwhelming majority.

  37. N

    As Ive said before

    In the USofA you can have as much guns and violence as you like, so long as there no tits.

    Unfortunately, over here we are 'different' & I dont care if The Sun is completely devoid of any news, or whatever constitutes as news.

    So hands off our tits & go and shoot off with anything that moves.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sun - porno

    If you want to worry about links between pornography and British media - try looking up Mr Richard Desmond and the Daily Star....

  39. stizzleswick
    Coat

    The real obscenity...

    ...lies in calling the Sun a "Newspaper." That is akin to calling anything a politician says "truth."

    Mine's the one with today's Times sticking out of the pocket.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    an old one...

    Ever noticed how sex is used to sell everything from chewing gum to booze to cars? But as soon as you want to pay for it, you're a criminal!

  41. Frumious Bandersnatch

    ifap.to

    priceless!

  42. snafu
    Jobs Horns

    Big Bro Jobs

    "By Michael Hawkes Posted Tuesday 5th May 2009 15:25 GMT

    Reading the article, it reminded me of Orwell, Big Brother, and 1984, then I remembered the commercial Apple used to launch the Macintosh. Have they become what they once mocked?"

    That TV spot was just a fine product of their Ministry of Truth, actually, announcing openness by selling a completely closed product (at the time), the antithesis of the Apple II.

    Remember that incoherence in a commie dictatorship is not a byproduct: it is a requirement and a tool. Hence Apple's policies :D

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Yes PM

    The Sun readers dont care who runs the country as long as shes got big tits.

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @Joey

    YOU are whats wrong with the world today. YOU assume they are being exploided but you don´t know them, you don´t know anything about their industri and you clearly don´t know how to think before you type. Just stop and go away.

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @stizzleswick: the "Times"?

    You mean the once good paper that has since become a mouthpiece for Murdoch, owner of News Corp. and The Sun? Even though I often disagreed with the analyses in The Times, I used to buy it because it was quality analysis. Since it's been owned by Murdoch, it has become an opinion paper. Plus, not a penny of mine is going to the old bastard.

  46. Fredly

    Get over yourselves

    I am lucky in that at work I have a large range of newspapers to read, and I tend to look over all of them.

    All those of you who dismiss the Sun and its readership are bigoted elitists. The Sun carries more news items than most "quality" papers and highlights wars/major events in remote countries that go unreported in the better written press, even if the reports are just a few words. Also it is good to know which way a major element of our society is thinking. Don't forget the Sun is THE paper the political parties want to get onside as that is where most votes will come from come General Election day.

  47. Dan
    Jobs Halo

    'obscene'

    If a Apple considers a topless woman 'obscene', they must be one hell of puritanical organisation.

  48. Sergie Kaponitovicz
    Alert

    @ Iam Me

    "Ok Apple are really starting to wear on my nerves."

    Don't you mean "Apple are really starting to get on my tits"?

    Other than that I agree with everything you wrote.

  49. Tony

    So...

    ...They don't object to the blatant scaremongering, sensationalism, bigotry, hypocrisy, political toadying and outright lying that passes for journalism in our nation's favourite 'newspaper', but are terrified of a couple of plastic tits on page 3? Sounds just like the Merkins to me.

  50. Brian Whittle

    Not Arousing

    I find the Page 3 stuff more odd than Erotic nothing sexy there

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Missing the old days

    When Samantha Fox ruled the 3rd page.

  52. jimmy you
    Boffin

    The Sun? Obscene?

    I can't believe anyone could think or say such a thing.

    It's a lovely family paper for true Brits. The rag of the Bulldog brigade.

    I even wipe my arse with it, it's just so bloody British and that's wot makes me proud.

  53. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In...

    In Soviet America, Apples ban Melons.

  54. DZ-Jay

    What is this Page 3 of which you speak?

    I'm a Yank (sorry, it's not my fault, I swear!), so I am not familiar with this Page 3 on The Sun.

    Can someone explain what's on it? Is it really 16 year old girls showing their bare breasts in provocative poses?

    If such is the case, I cannot imagine how the editors categorize that as "family content". Surely the descriptions above by other commentators are overstated.

    Or else I am really oblivious to our cultural differences and I should get out more.

    -dZ.

  55. Tony

    @DZ-Jay

    That's pretty much accurate, apart from the models are generally 18 rather than 16.

    I have always found it a bit odd to be honest - Our country is famous for being somewhat prudish when it comes to sex, but several of our daily newspapers (if you can call the gutter press such) proudly display naked ladies every day.. whereas your country is famous for having the biggest appetite for pornography in the known universe, but everyone shits a brick when someone's boob inadvertantly slips out on television...

    Is this proof that not being exposed to the odd view of a ladies boobies turns you into a closet wanking addict?

    ;)

  56. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    xkcd fell under the same problem...

    Some lad tried to write an XKCD app for the iPhone and they wouldn't publish it for similar reasons (swear words, etc).

    http://echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=34212&p=1552620&hilit=iphone+app

    Anon because whilst it's fine to read XKCD, I'm not sure I'm yet up to admitting being a member of the forums...

  57. jake Silver badge

    @DZ-Jay

    "I'm a Yank (sorry, it's not my fault, I swear!)"

    Me too. But I've spent quite a bit of time in England over the years.

    "so I am not familiar with this Page 3 on The Sun."

    Metacrawler it. Never mind ... here ya go: http://www.page3.com/

    "Can someone explain what's on it? Is it really 16 year old girls showing their bare breasts in provocative poses?"

    For small values of provocative. I don't know if it's still the case, but the age of consent in England was 16, at least thru' the 1980s. From what I've been reading here, it would seem they have raised it to 18 (or maybe it's still legal to have sex at 16, but taking pictures of nekkid folks a day shy of their 18th birthday is now illegal? That would hardly make sense ... but little does these days).

    "If such is the case, I cannot imagine how the editors categorize that as "family content".

    Nobody ever said the editors of The Sun were trustworthy :-)

    "Surely the descriptions above by other commentators are overstated."

    Nope. Not overstated. Reality.

    "Or else I am really oblivious to our cultural differences and I should get out more."

    I don't know about you getting out more, but if you've never lived on the other side of the pond, you really aren't equipped to comment on their societal issues. That goes for BOTH sides of the Atlantic!

  58. CockKnocker
    Thumb Up

    I will be the only one then

    That reckons the sun newspaper is great, full of sensationalist rubbish, beatiful ladies on page 3 and lotsa football. Yeah its a trash paper but its a fun read, and certainly better than the daily mail!!

    Long live page 3! and Keeley! and Becky! and Nikkala! Mmmmm

  59. CockKnocker
    Happy

    ages

    the minimum age to get your "norks" out is 18 here (uk), on average the girls in the sun are in their early 20's. (Or so they say).

  60. jake Silver badge

    @CockKnocker

    "the minimum age to get your "norks" out is 18 here (uk)"

    Noted. Ta :-)

    Any idea when they changed it from 16? Or were me & my GF breaking the law 33 years ago?

  61. pctechxp

    New definition of obscene

    What Apple charges for hardware.

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