Give me liberty or ...

NEWS | Apple CEO takes an unpopular stand—for freedom | Megan Basham

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"Freedom from porn." That's how Apple CEO Steve Jobs describes his company's policy not to allow applications (apps) featuring pornographic content to run on its products. And Apple's been putting its balance sheet where its public relations is, removing approximately 5,000 apps with explicit material from the iTunes store earlier this year.

Given how ubiquitous pornography is on the internet and that other smartphone platforms offer it in abundance (not to mention the fact that users can easily jailbreak their iPhones or iPads and run whatever apps they want), the policy may be largely symbolic. But it's a symbol that's sparking condemnation from some corners.

After the iPad's adherence to Apple's no-porn policy reignited the issue, an editorial in Advertising Age equated the company's actions to government censorship. And a story in The New York Times argued that the computer business was built on pornography, thus Apple's stance will likely result in its devices losing market share. But Jobs doesn't appear to give much weight to either dire predictions or charges that he's suppressing liberty.