Apple deletes iCloud mails containing phrase 'barely legal teens'
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 26th Feb 2013 21:31 UTC
Apple Well paint me red and call me a girl scout. "In its latest push to get porn off your computer, Apple now deletes all iCloud emails that contain the phrase 'barely legal teens'. It doesn't send the messages to spam, or flag them, it just straight up deletes them, and there's nothing you can do about it." So, at least we can finally put that silly myth to rest that Apple respects users' privacy. They scan your emails, including attachments, just like everyone else.
E-mail Print r 3   49 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/kos
Permalink for comment 553782
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
MOS6510
Member since:
2011-05-12

I don't think there is an Apple parental control to block porn emails.

They desktop Mail client and, probably, the server iCloud does spam checking, but blocking emails is slightly different. Spam is unwanted, but emails with a pornographic topic may be wanted.

And that's, what I think, is the tricky bit. You can't 100% block all spam, but it's even harder to block non-spam by determining using automatic systems what it is about.

If Apple says they can protect your kids and it doesn't work they come off pretty bad. People will demand they will fix it, which they can't.

If Apple says they maybe, kind of, it's great when it works, protect your kids they will come off bad and it would look silly too. Even worse!

So it's best to, like almost every email provider, to not delete/block emails that aren't obviously spam.

Reply Parent Score: 3