Bare Bums

One of the concerns I have about producing books only for Apple’s iPad is the fact that Apple Corp has complete approval of the editorial content of the ibooks it displays in its iTune bookstore. It puts a spotlight on the control that giant companies like Apple, Google and Facebook have over media at a time when censorship by democratic governments has faded.

Case in point: early this month Apple refused to carry Hippies 1 and Hippies 2 , an illustrated history book from a Danish publisher, because of archival photos of naked hippies frolicking in the 60s and 70s. (The publisher covered the naughty bits with apples to no avail.)

The Globe & Mail’s Michael Posner also reveals that the Apple content panel retitled Naomi Wolf’s new bestseller Vagina: A New Biography to V***** to protect the sensibilities of the world’s 100 million iPad owners. I suppose she can take solace in the fact the book is unillustrated.

Luckily, the Apple morality panel didn’t stop us from sharing a pair of 1982 buttocks in Everest: High Expectations at Base Camp. Not every editor gets to add a shower scene to his book.

 

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