“There’s a widespread notion that pornographers eagerly jump on new technology long before it goes mainstream, but with Apple Computer’s new video-playing iPod, the adult industry is largely staying away,” Larry Buhl reports for Wired News. “With a couple of exceptions, porno producers are in no hurry to provide stag movies for the iPod, thanks to fears of a public outcry and a government crackdown.”
Buhl reports, “Despite the industry’s caution, self-imposed safeguards might not keep parents’ groups and conservative organizations at bay indefinitely, said Tom Hymes, a spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition. ‘I think it’s possible these groups will advocate for laws such as filtering software like DRM (digital rights management) tools on the actual device,’ Hymes said. ‘That could act like a V-chip for the iPod.’ Apple did not respond to requests for information about parental controls on the video iPod.”
Full article here.
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Apple unveils new 5th generation iPod, now plays music, photos, and video – October 12, 2005
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Porn wouldn’t be porn if it were not outlawed.
Civilization wouldn’t be civilized if porn were openly accepted.
You know he’s right. Family programming only for the iPod. Then every evening, the whole family can gather around it, start a fire, and watch some quality entertainment that stresses family values. C’mon guys, a majority of us are over the age of 18, if not 21. I’m not going to be told whcih content I can and cannot watch by some conservative right-wing organization who’s afraid of the perils involved with a little skin or the s-e-x word.
Darn, you mean the only reason I’ll have to reach in my pocket will be to get or return my iPod?
And what about the tonnes of content that is already out there that hasn’t been encoded with a “v” chip in mind? It can easily be converted to play on the iPod, so no amount of money or time spent by government is going to stop porn from making it onto a kids’ iPod if the kid is resourceful enough.
How about parents just periodically do a review of the content that is on their kid’s iPod and iTunes library? That’s a better step if you ask me. Give parents the knowledge to be aware of what their kids do.
Magic word: “yes” as in “yes, Yes, YES!!! HARDER!!! HARDER!!!!!!”
Um In this case Size really does matter.
watching s-e-x on a 2.5″ screen isn’t worth it. 320×240 resolution is acceptable, but those movies generally need a larger screen to make things look good.
As far as i can tell, porn has not evolved to the point where it can walk into your house and sneak its way onto your iPod. All the files on my iPods have been put there by me. Why is this issue being cast as Apple’s problem to deal with?
A v-chip makes sense for television where the content is ‘unpredictable’. The same seems to be true for that wacky internets. However, if Johnny is watching povporn on his iPod (with video) then the issue is between Johnny and his parents since the files are there because of intentional, premeditated, and deliberate acts.
Personal responsibility … where are you?
Just let people watch whatever they want to watch. As long as the porn “actors” are over 18, who cares…
Heck with Bush not allowing .xxx domains to exist at least that section of the government has got their head up their butts.
They rather say “it shouldn’t exist at all” instead of realizing the obvious that porn is a human necessity and it’s not going away ever, so the best they can do is give it it’s own place on the net so it’s easy to filter away from the kiddies, office computers, hospitals, churches and other locations where it’s not appropriate.
Of course then countries can stir up their male populations to war using sexual frustration by implementing laws banning .xxx websites.
Don’t let me have my porn for a week and I’ll be ready to kill too.
I don’t think censorship really works, all it takes is one kid in grade school with a copy of dads’ playboys and kids will get even more clever to get their porn.
After all the best hackers are severely sexually frustrated parent basement dwellers anyway
The only problem I have with it is the thought of someone watching it in public where my child might be able to see the screen. I know the argument — make sure your child can’t see the screen. That’s the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard. Its the same as saying that sex should be allowed in public, and it is a parents responsibility to make sure that the children turn their heads from it.
If somebody wants podporn, then great. There will have to be something to make sure it doesn’t go out in public. There is already a problem with people watching porn on in-car DVD systems where all other cars around them can see it also.
Covering this area is where the laws need to be centered. It is not an iPod specific thing, nor is it necessary to make sure that porn cannot make its way onto an iPod. If you want it and you’re over 18, its your right to have it. Its also my right not to have to have my child see it in public.
OMG, that tiny dvd screen in that car 3 lanes over is showing a sex movie, I’m going to cause an accident trying to get a better look, I mean trying to avoid it!
America must prevent me from accidently getting aroused, I mean having my eyes burned with such hot babes and guys, I mean trash.
Help Congress pass some laws and save our children!
Laws should not have to be passed. Porn purveyors should slide back to the toilet and be flushed. Do you want your children posing for this sickness?
UnHolywood will rail against any chips.
Rights—my eye!!
DISTANT THUNDER
civilization became civilization beforel porno was banned –
the ban is very very recent idiocy.
Before that people were consider mature enough to judge for themselves.
Hatford — I take it you don’t have any children. I admitted it is your right to have the porn. It will never be your right to display it in public. Pee Wee Herman went to jail for such public displays. I guess you think he should not have gone. There is no difference between seeing it on a screen and seeing it in real life.
It IS your right to have it on your iPod, DVD, VHS,, magazine, etc. It IS my right not to have me nor my child see it alongside you.
I have never seen a car dvd player playing porn. And I live in Los Angeles, and i’ve been looking! I can’t see this being a big problem. IMO the screens on most in car dvd players are barely large enough for good viewing in the car, from another vehicle I doubt your kids are going to learn too much.
Isn’t it already illegal to display porn in public, which is what you are doing if aynone else can see it. I don’t even think it would have to be illegal I think the vast majority of people won’t watch it in public, and of those who would the vast majority would respect a request to move it somewhere else if you or your children could see it. The number of sickos who want to watch it in some place where young children can watch it are very few and I don’t think make up a major threat to our kids.
MacConvert,
If you were really concerned, you’d be proactive about it, rather than waiting for some government legislation. Wouldn’t the more obvious solution just be to talk to your kids about it, rather than trying to pretend it doesn’t exist?
Wow. We have a real pair today ….
“porn is a human necessity” – Um, why exactly? Does your brain stop working if your hand…never mind… it’s fairly obvious yours doesn’t work anyway.
“Porn wouldn’t be porn if it were not outlawed.” – What? That makes absolutely no sense. It’s like saying murder wouldn’t be murder if it weren’t illegal. It’s called pornography because that’s what it is.
On the slightly more serious question of parents policing their childrens ipod – sure, parents should be actively parts of their children’s lives so that these issues can be talked about sensibly.
However, there is absolutely no sense in making porn freely available to all of any age with whatever standard of parents they may have got just so some people can feel less guilty about what they do. Sure someone has to load the files on but that is easily done in secret and kids are often curious beyond what is good for them. Why don’t we let them all have free access to crack too and then say its the parent’s fault for not ransacking their rooms every night and having them tailed everywhere they go?
This is not a question of maintaining the status quo: handheld video devices make it harder for parents to know what their kids are watching. We don’t have to make the world a harder place to raise good kids just to ease some guilty consciences.
MacConvert, I agree. It would be terrible if your or anyone’s children had to see that in public. There are in fact laws against that. I think there have actually been cases of that sort of thing happening in cars (the roads are public) so I think the law would protect you there. Plus I bet most people would feel aweful creepy watching hardcore porn where everyone could notice. Talk about awkward…
Some people here obviously have a warped sense of what “Liberty” and “rights” are. You have a right to be free of initiation of force from other people. Nothing more. This is the principle behind all of the main points in the US constitution.
In other words, you have a right to do whatever you want so long as you do not initiate force against other people or their property. So, public property rules should be decided by the voters, and private property rules should be decided by the owners. If a particular area of town allows people to view porn openly on their iPods, then don’t go there (or ask the owners to change their rules).
So stop crying for mommy government to come in and stop the ‘evils’ of pornography. Every government programme that you socialists and fascists are calling for will only grow, cost lots of money, and cause more harm than good. This is the sort of nonsense that is leading the US towards a path of destructive tyranny. The people who wrote your constitution were not fools – I suggest that you people take a good hard look at what the USA is supposed to be.
Ahhhhhhh, the Vagina chip. Don’t you just love America?
“Good bye liberty”
Sure government programs are often unnecessary and wasteful.
So which ones do you think are acceptable?
Do ones that protect children count?
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Covers a little bit more than “to be free of initiation of force” don’t you think?
I always wondered what problems the Americans have with nudity and porn.
Some people behave as if nudity/porn kills. It does not. Firearms do.
MacConvert and Suddenly disturbed — You are part of the problem.
Ironically, it’s the more “socialist” countries of western Europe (supposedly without our “freedoms” here in the U.S.) that have a much more enlightened view of this subject. It’s funny, seeing all manner of “pornography” openly displayed in shops and convenience stores in Germany, Denmark, etc. — right alongside TIME and Newsweek. There “children” don’t seem to be rampaging through the streets and humping everything in sight.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that they consider sex to be an open and honest part of life — and so they don’t hide it as though it’s the spawn of the devil (thank the Christian church for elevating the “spirit” at the cost of the “flesh”). Funny how their rates of rape, first sexual experience, teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse, etc. are all LOWER than here in the good old puritanical U.S.A.
And by the way, what you call “pornography” a lot of other people call “erotica” and view as simply one more choice on the wheel of life. b is correct: why not just talk to your kids about it rather than trying to pretend it doesn’t exist. That never works.
Government is force, nothing more. Although a nation does need a central set of rules to follow, those rules should be cut down to just basic human rights. Specifically, all rights that can be derived from the principle “The initiation of force against others is wrong.” All that a government should provide is the protection of life, liberty and the freedom to pursue happiness, within the scope of these human rights. So, no forceful taxation. I have seen compelling examples of profitable, viable business plans that could effectively replace every single beneficial government programme, but without the coercion and force associated with government solutions. I believe in a free market restricted by only the types of human rights outlined in the US constitution.
When you start creating laws to regulate something, the bureaucracies behind them gradually begin to expand, creating more and more restrictions of liberty under the guise of “care” (Democrats) or “security” (Republicans). Government expands far more easily than it shrinks.
Well said, Carthaginian.