Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Mommy Apple's anti sexting

Nanny Apple

Apple Patents Anti-Sexting Device

Today the US Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent  Apple filed in 2008, which, get this, prevents users from sending or receiving “objectionable” text messages.  The patent’s official title? “Text-based communication control for personal communication device” which actually doesn’t use the pretty ridiculous noun/verb “Sexting,” but come on, we all know what they mean.

The “Sexting” patent background info states that the problem it solves is that there is currently “No way to monitor and control text communications to make them user appropriate. For example, users such as children may send or receive messages (intentionally or not) with parentally objectionable language.”

joyoftech.com
After years of watching Apple operate, here's my guess.  The company certainly knows that implementing this will send the teen/young adult market to non-iPhone phone products.  So, they must have good reason to think that congress will mandate it, as they did the  V-chip.  Apple's competitors will then have to pay them a royalty.  Of course they could not have anticipated the pending congressional bloodbath that will neuter, if not kill many of their paid-for lap dogs.  Historically, fascist government controls industries produce; we may be in an era where tech is leading the way (see surveillance cams). 

8 comments:

TimO said...

Yeah, Al & Tipper Gore had SUCH success with that Vchip...
Wonder how many hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted forcing companies to put that boondoggle in all our stuff??

apotheosis said...

How's this supposed to work, anyway? Keywords? Do they really think they're going to keep ahead of a medium that literally invents hundreds of new metaphors for sex acts every...single...DAY?

Rodger the Real King of France said...

apotheosis, I don't "working" matters .. they're selling digital comfort to lazy parents. "We don't make quality, we sell it."

apotheosis said...

I guess I should be happy if Apple settles for keyword filters. Google's Droid equivalent will probably be based on guys with Van Eck phreaking gear following you around and monitoring your convo in realtime.

Anonymous said...

http://www.funlol.com/15689/Buy_a_mac_or_a_pc.html

Avoid the embarrassment of a mac and the problems of Windows, use Linux.

Anonymous said...

"Of course they could not have anticipated the pending congressional bloodbath that will neuter, if not kill many of their paid-for lap dogs."

And all this time I thought it was the Republicans who held the position (if you will pardon the expression) with the sex lives of the nation, not the communists.

(And to the Anon at 10/13/10 8:37PM: I am not the least bit embarrassed to own a Mac.)

Anonymous said...

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/4/14/129157560669596150.gif

Cheesy said...

I long for the time when we didn't need restrictive EVERYTHING because people by and large considered it a matter of personal integrity to behave themselves.

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