3G Kindle Leaps the 'Great Firewall of China'

AFP: "HONG KONG — Amazon's Kindle 3G e-reader is being snapped up on China's grey market as it has an extra special advantage for customers -- it automatically leaps the so-called 'Great Firewall' of state web censorship. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which are blocked by the Beijing authorities, can be accessed without interference by the Kindle's Internet browsing function, the South China Morning Post reported Monday. ... "

Tom Foremski: Is Apple’s Porn Ban Damaging the Future of Media?

Maybe Jobs's ban against porm on the iPad is something more than just a fascist denial of the First Amendment. Maybe it is also a strategic technological and business mistake. memeburn: "I’ve long been an admirer of the porn industry’s innovative business models as applied to technology and media. ... Every time a new technology has been introduced, way back to the printing press, sexual content has helped drive that technology and develop thriving business models that others have been able to adopt and prosper with. ... "

Hey Kids - Don't Forget Banned Books Week ...

... which commences on September 25th. At the very least, I hope people will make it a point to read a banned (or once-banned) book. Perhaps Howl or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Lolita or The Catcher in the Rye. Then there's also Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, to name just a few.

Big Brother Steve Jobs: More Apple iBooks Censorship

Apple accused of censorship after porn disappears from iPad book chart - Telegraph: "Blonde and Wet, the Complete Story was ranked first on the iPad in a top 10 that included three other erotic novellas yesterday morning. But all four titles disappeared simultaneously and had been replaced with less risque books, such as Peter Mandelson’s autobiography, by the afternoon. Book chart analysts said it was unlikely that all the erotic titles could have dropped out of the list at the same moment without being deliberately removed. It is not the first time that Apple has faced accusations of prudishness. The company embarked on a "great porn purge" in February, ridding its iPhone App Store of all "overtly sexual content." Steve Jobs, chief executive, announced in April that he wanted the newly-launched iPad to remain free of pornographic applications. ..."

Apple's iBooks Censorship - Steve Jobs the New Tipper Gore?

From Jessie Kunhardt and Alexandra Carr, Huffington Post:

As Apple has gotten the chance to control more and more content with its ever-expanding app store the popular company has shown itself to be somewhat tyrannical and more than a little prudish when it comes to censorship. Books and book apps have gotten caught up in the storm of arbitrary rejections and strange censorship as Apple decides which make the cut into the apparently exclusive app store and iBookstore. Though the reasons for the censorship vary -- from gay themes to 'objectionable' language -- the majority of these books and book apps have one thing in common: Apple reversed the censorship after being publicly derided across the Internet for their decision.

Dianna Dilworth at eBookNewser hits the nail on the head:

Apple ... banned Tom Bouden's comic book adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play The Importance of Being Earnest because of kissing men. CNET editor David Carnoy's thriller Knife Music was banned because the word "fuck" is used a few times. Both were eventually allowed in.

My personal favorite was an eReader app called "Eucalyptus," [offering] access to Project Gutenberg's entire catalog of copyright-free books [which] was rejected because it included the Kama Sutra. The app was accepted after Apple got bad press. Who would have thought that Apple would be the new Tipper Gore?

Apple iBooks Censorship ... and David Carnoy

Very entertaining, even though I don't think the censorship issue is funny at all. Nevertheless, David Carnoy shows wit in enjoying himself at Apple's expense.