CYBERSPACE — Apple is apparently monitoring its iCloud email to scrub out oft-used porn terms like “barely legal teens."
CultofMac.com is reporting that in an effort to be squeaky clean, the computer giant is deleting all iCloud emails that contain “objectionable” porn phrases even if they’re not porn-related.
Apple’s policy doesn’t even send the questionable messages to spam, or flag them, it just deletes them with no recourse for users.
At face value it may seem Apple is trying to guard against child porn, but according to the report, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Steven G., wrote to InfoWorld that he was trying to send a script via his iCloud account to a director, but his email was being blocked because of porn references.
The writer did some research to discover just what was being blocked.
“AND THEN I SAW IT — a line in the script, describing a character viewing an advertisement for a pornographic site on his computer screen. Upon modifying this line, the entire document was delivered with no problem,” the scriptwriter said.
To test matters further, Steven G. created a PDF containing the line: “All my children are barely legal teens — why would I want to let them drive by themselves?” that again triggered Apple's deletion. An email with the "barely legal teens" phrase in the subject line was also blocked.
Apparently Apple can remove any content it deems objectionable without notice, according to the iCloud terms of service.
CultofMac said it ran its own tests of iCloud email “objectionable terms” that backed up the writer’s discovery.
Apple was contacted by the website to try and clear up the matter but didn’t respond.
