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June 29, 2005

Whose Responsible: Some Thoughts About Apples New Venture

So Apple iTunes 4.9 is out and it's put Podcasting at the fingertips of 30 million people. 30 million including a fair number of teenagers. So what's Apple going to to do the first time some god fearing christian mother from Kansas (we know that's where you all live) hears Dawn and Drew drop the F-Bomb or Adam Curry smoking a joint coming from her young, impressionable child's iPod?

Are they going to drop the podcast feed from their directory? Will they impose some kind of ratings system or send a letter followed by lawyers to the podcasters house?

Did anyone bother to read the TOS that came with iTunes 4.9 to see who is going to be responsible? Are they going to take any lawsuits about content and point them at the feed producer? Or did it warn parents there may be objectionable material and they're responsible for monitoring their child (like that'll ever happen)?

Hey, if they're willing to sue because a book written in the 1850's by one of this countries greatest authors uses a word today considered in bad taste what makes you think they won't sue you for saying "fuck" on their childs iPod?

Posted by Loyd at June 29, 2005 06:33 AM

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Comments

It's a pretty sad state of affairs that this is even a topic for discussion. Nobody is suing bookstores for carrying books with certain words or topics in them. Anyone can go into a bookstore and buy any kind of book. There's no age-screening process. Guess what? The kids are all still fine.

Why the f*** should Apple be responsible for what podcasts they point at? (I thought I had to thrown in one f-bomb for the sake of this topic.) Google's directory has access to tons of websites which would have "inappropriate" content on them, but they don't provide disclaimers or content censorship.

This is such a frustrating question to even consdier. It's not Apple's problem to WARN PARENTS. Parents should do their own parenting.

P.S. I tried to post this comment with the f-word in it but it was refused due to "questionable content." I find this highly ironic given the subject I'm posting on. I was trying to be funny and make a point. I don't see the difference between what the author has said "f-bomb" and actually using the word. Everyone know's what you're talking about, why block it?

Posted by: Jeff Hume at June 30, 2005 08:11 PM