It’s 11 a.m. and time for your coffee break. Leave the office and stroll the 14 steps to the café next door. Your iPhone vibrates and asks if you’d like the usual double-wet cappuccino. Of course you do, so you tap Yes. Within a minute your name is called and you have your caffeine-rich libation in hand. Again, no cash or credit card necessary because your iPhone automatically picked up the tab.
An Open Letter To Steve Jobs About Porn on the iOS.
Mr Jobs, I love your products. I’m typing this post on the most dependable, well-made computer I’ve ever owned, a 2007 MacBook Pro. And the iPhone 3G in my pocket is easily the greatest phone I’ve ever owned.
I really appreciate the well-publicized stance you have taken against pornography. As a dad and a Christian, I cannot more emphatically state how great it is to see a man in your position reject the billions of dollars you could be making off of porn, in favor of standing up for children. Thank you so much.
Here’s why I am writing, though. Porn is still very, VERY accessible on your iDevices. There are entire networks of websites out there striving to put out iPhone optimized pornography. It’s a specific genre of porn, Mr Jobs. I am sure you are aware of this, and I assume you are not a fan.
I appreciate that your devices “just work” and I know it must take hours of planning to make a device that is accessible to developers without becoming irreparably cluttered with junk apps that tarnish the image of a device that “just works” for so many people.
I dont know if you are aware of services like Covenanteyes.com or x3watch, but those services are excellent for those of us who like the ability to hold each other accountable to not looking at porn on our mobile devices. Currently, the iPhone versions of those two apps are “Safari replacement” browsers that are clunky, frustrating to use, and easy to circumvent.
The Android versions of those two apps are great, because the developers are given root access to the device. They are allowed to make an app that isn’t a browser replacement, but runs in the background monitoring what sites are accessed by the device.
I know how against your sensibilities giving root access to the iOS to developers is. But can we make an exception for an app like CovenantEyes? I know making an official app that monitors users’ activity would have the privacy advocates screaming. But I want my privacy invaded by friends of mine holding me accountable for what I look at on my phone. And it would give parents a way to ensure their kids are being protected, without disabling the internet on the device!
I appreciate your time, and your heart to keep the iPhone porn free. Now let’s really make it happen.
(if you aren’t Steve Jobs, now would be the time to retweet, forward, “like” and in any other way promote this post. Thanks.)