Big Brother in Cupertino

iPhone is Slavery?

This is too funny.

Under the banner headline “Apple: Maybe We Should Be Afraid,” Michael Wolf of the Silicon Valley Insider laments the “strange and dastardly” company that Apple has become because of the “no-good business” of censoring iPhone apps.

“This may be piddling,” he writes, “but it’s obviously part of the major control-freakishness that has always lurked below the surface in Cupertino, but which has not become broad-based corporate policy.”

Sawing away at the old bones that say censorship equals control, Wolf and others of the progressive ilk scream that in banning explicit apps, Apple has become The Man and is putting down what the customer really wants.

Really.

I’m an Apple customer. So’s my wife. So are a lot of people, including a lot of women who’ve apparently commented to Apple that they’re disturbed with the explosion of explicit apps available at the app store. Seems what these customers really want is the chance to browse in the app store without running into things like iSexy, Wobble, iBoob, and other racy images and descriptions we’d rather not see.

What makes the situation funny is that Apple has long been the darling of progressives and of Silicon Valley Insider – the stories it touts at the tail end of this one include:

“How Apple Keeps Its Laser-Sharp Focus,” in which Dan Frommer squeals “Apple releases fewer new products in a year than some of its competitors launch in a month, and it pays excruciatingly close attention to details.”

And this screamer from Feb. 17, by Nick Saint: “15 Outrageous Sex Apps that Made it into the iPhone App Store."

But while apps featuring actually nudity are forbidden in iTunes, apps with images of people in their underwear are fine by Apple.

Consequently, porny apps are ubiquitous in the iTunes store.

Here’s the real surprise: Not many of them are making that much money, however. That’s because porny apps seldom make the best-selling list, which is dominated by games.

So by Silicon Valley Insider’s own admission, these apps aren’t making people money. They’re being downloaded, yes, especially the free ones. But that doesn’t make it morally right.

I have a hunch: If Apple suddenly banned religious-themed apps – I’ve got a few of them – Silicon Valley Insider would be silent on the subject. I’d bet a sizable sum on that postulation. Progressives, who want everything tolerated and loved and coddled, only scream when the stuff they love and tolerate is being threatened. Threaten something they don’t care about, they’re at best silent, at worst cheering. Apple may be inconsistent in banning these apps while allowing Playboy and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition to remain, but they’re no more hypocritical than the progressives whining about the “Big Brother” of Cupertino.

Yeah. Any time a company does something decent, this is the only thing progressives see.