Who here has not seen Apple's famous "1984" Superbowl ad?
The one where the forcefully independent Macintosh defends us all against the tyranny and oppression of Big Brother and Groupthink?Thank goodness for Apple and the Mac. Without them we'd all be culturally deprived and mentally starved in a gray cell of perpetual sameness!
Right? It would be like the terrorists won, or something. Like we all had to use the same computers and listen to the same music and even read the same officially approved books.
"Hi; I'm a Mac and I know what's best for you."
Oops. It turns out that Apple has accidentally become Big Brother. I'm sure that they didn't mean to, but it sure enough has happened.
Some of us may have suspected it before, but as of a few days ago any remaining doubt has left the building. That's when an iPhone app developer got a letter from Apple rejecting his application, "because it contains inappropriate sexual content". We don't know why Big Brother would care if we are sexing it up with our iPhones, but setting that aside for a minute lets check out the inappropriate sexual content for ourselves.
Oh! Wait a minute! There isn't any!
This app is an "ebook reader". That is to say, quite clearly, it has no content. Zero. It is content free. Void of data of any kind.
There seems to be a rumor that it is because this reader can show the Kama Sutra, a readily and freely available ancient vedic religious document that apparently dwells a bit on sex. (Psalms, anyone? This is probably not correct because, well, the Kama Sutra (and the Psalms) are available thru other iPhone apps including Apple's own.
More likely, this is just a screw up.
Can "nothing" actually be inappropriate content?
Only when it is a mote perceived in the eye of Big Brother?
Perhaps it is because this app is a competitor to Apple's own app? Pobably not. Probably just an overzealous or sleepy or pissed off grunt in the app store assembly line. Still; shouldn't our self-appointed (and heavily advertised) defender of creative independence do better than this?
Where is that girl in red shorts when we need her?
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