Late last month Apple announced that with the release of its newest iTunes software, version 4.9, it would be offering podcasts through the iTunes store. And indeed it is.
Now a tempest in a teacup is brewing over what some are dubbing “porncasts” – podcasts containing sexually explicit material.
Really, I suppose, who cares, other than those who have young ‘uns at home whom they do not want listening to porncasts (and hey, let’s face it, if they want the goods, they can easily find it online without opening iTunes at all).
A stroll on over to the iTunes store does indeed show a snazzy new “podcasts” offering, and yes, clicking on the podcasts button takes you to the podcasts store, where you can indeed find “adult-themed” podcasts (the so-called porncasts).
It’s interesting to note that the porncast most often cited in coverage of this issue, sex educator Violet Blue’s podcast (the name of which is pronounced “open source sex”, not “open sores sex”, as some have suggested) places a respectable #12 in the top 20 podcasts on iTunes.
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While word on the street had it that explicit podcasts such as Blue’s had been removed from the iTunes music store following Apple’s being made aware of their nature, if they were removed, they are back now, carrying an “explicit content” label.
Part of the problem may have been a June 29th interview with Steve Jobs which appeared on the ABC News site, in which Jobs vowed that in the new iTunes podcast store “we’re not allowing any pornography. And we’re not allowing— you know, copyright infringement and things like that.”
Of course, pornography is one of those things that we’ll all know when we see it, but apparently the powers that be have decided post the Jobs interview that perhaps “free porn from Apple” isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Really, though, this is all just posturing. Everyone knows that if someone really wants some explicit digital media, they’re not going to go looking to the iTunes music store. They’re going to download the Hot Coffee mod to Grand Theft Auto.
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