Borderline child porn latest to sully App Store

by Stevie Smith - Jul 2 2009, 16:15

With the dust barely settled following Apple’s decision to pull contentious boob-heavy application Hottest Girls from the online App Store, a somewhat distasteful incident within a previously approved application has once again incited the wrath of the Cupertino-based tech giant.

The iPhone and iPod Touch application in question is BeautyMeter, which this week sounded alarms on Apple’s sensitive pornographic radar after offering up photographic content that some would likely label as borderline child pornography.

BeautyMeter, which initially hit the store as a ‘rate me’ application similar to Hot Or Not enables its users to upload pictures of themselves for others to vote upon in categories such as Face, Body and Clothing.

However, the application has been cast out by Apple after a 15-year-old girl purportedly posted a topless snap of herself that also included a thumb tugging provocatively on the waistband of her underwear.

With the offending picture duly spotted, Apple pulled access to BeautyMeter, maintaining its stance that it “will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography.”

A disclaimer from the developers of BeautyMeter appears to shirk a degree of responsibility regarding content regulation, saying:

“We don’t review each uploaded photo exclusively but from time to time we will clean up. You can mark a photo as spam so the community is able to regulate among themselves material that they don’t like.”

The Hottest Girls application, originally a purveyor of saucy photos showing girls in bikinis and lingerie, was similarly yanked from the App Store last week after it violated the terms of the iPhone Developer Program by introducing full nudity.

The Tech Herald: Apple gives Hottest Girls the cold shoulder

 

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