Victorian Erotica: Too Hot for Apple
I just read about a new ereader app called Eucalyptus. It’s absolutely gorgeous (check out the page-turning animation!) and offers some cool, unique functionality. For instance, readers can use a pinch motion to resize the text on the fly instead of doing so through a Settings interface.
It’s not available in the AppStore, though, because it’s been rejected by Apple. Why?
Via Jamie’s Web Log:
“This is due to the fact that it’s possible, after explicitly searching for them, to find, download from the Internet, and then read texts that Apple deems ‘objectionable.’
What kinds of “objectionable” texts? The example the Apple staff gave Jamie was a Victorian-era text-only translation of Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana.
My first reaction to this news? Hilarious. There’s just something funny to me about the phrase “Victorian Erotica.” (Wonder if the top hat was created to smuggle porn?) However, in truth, as a strange attempt to “protect” users from offensive content, it’s incredibly misguided. And given how beautiful (and apparently useful) the app seems to be, it’s is a shame.
