Tumblr Removed From Apple's App Store Over Child Porn Issues (theverge.com) 73
Tumblr has reportedly been removed from Apple's App Store due to child pornography issues. "The app has been missing from the store since November 16th, but until now the reason for its absence was unclear -- initially Tumblr simply said it was 'working to resolve the issue with the iOS app,'" reports The Verge. "However, after Download.com approached Tumblr with sources claiming that the reason was related to the discovery of child pornography on the service, the Yahoo-owned social media network issued a new statement confirming the matter." From the report: In its updated statement, Tumblr said that while every image uploaded to the platform is "scanned against an industry database of child sexual abuse material" to filter out explicit images, a "routine audit" discovered content that was absent from the database, allowing it to slip through the filter. Although Tumblr says the content was immediately removed, its app continues to be unavailable on the App Store. It's still available in the Google Play store for Android users, however.
Re: (Score:2)
The real question gets to be: what images are in that DB that don't belong there? What if an 18+ porn star just looks young? They might look perfectly legal coming from a legit porn site, but still get flagged if someone started posting them on a "Lolita" Tumblr, pretending they are child porn. How
No surprise here. (Score:1)
Tumblr has always had a lot of questionable content.
What about all the browsers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should Tumblr go, while things like Firefox and Chrome apps stay? Or most of all, what about Facebook and Twitter?
At some point you just have to say, the internet is going to have unclean stuff, and general browsers can't police things. The same is true for any community kind of application like Tumblr.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
When your business model is to make money off the content you serve then you are responsible for what you serve. I'm tired of people getting rich off of services they provide yet taking no responsibility for what is done with it. Cut your profits in half and do a better job. If you can't do that then go out of business.
Re:What about all the browsers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
I know it pales in comparison to it's former glory in the late 90's & early 2000's and is no longer "News for Nerds"; back when goatse.cx used to be shocking and not some typical photo you'd find on Tumblr or most porn sites these days.
Ahhhh...the good o'l days when programmers actually had to keep track of memory, pointers, file handlers, network sockets, etc. and weren't dumbed down to the point of calling some API or 3rd party library that
Re: (Score:2)
Actually that's a pile of bullshit. Google doesn't expect or demand absolute perfection (after all, it's own services would be quickly banned if it did). It requires a decent effort to be made, and in this case Tumbler admitted that they failed to properly maintain their databases. They didn't demonstrate their competence or dedication to the task.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually that's a pile of bullshit. Google doesn't expect or demand absolute perfection (after all, it's own services would be quickly banned if it did). It requires a decent effort to be made, and in this case Tumbler admitted that they failed to properly maintain their databases. They didn't demonstrate their competence or dedication to the task.
Looking at it, it's not a case of 'admitted that they failed to properly maintain their databases' as much as 'discovered new stuff for the industry database.' It doesn't maintain itself, y'know.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: What about all the browsers? (Score:2)
You realise youâ(TM)ve effectively said âoeshut down the internetâ right?
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but within reasonable limits.
People will find ways to post stuff on your service. Back in BBS and FIDOnet times, we had ASCII porn, and it was impossible to filter it out by hand. Today we have machine learning and child pornography database but that a) still doesn't give 100% coverage and b) if you didn't stop for a second there to think about what it means that someone runs a business that provides a database of child pornography, you blinked at the wrong moment.
You should be responsible for your ser
Re: (Score:2)
Tumbler isn't a web browser. That's a false equivalence fallacy and you don't deserve any mod points for it. Feel shame.
It is a SOCIAL browser (Score:2)
I didn't say web browser, I said browser.
To me something like Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter is not that much different than a web browser, just more segmented in what you are browsing.
In the abstract, A social network is just like a broader network in terms needing software to traverse nodes, and search.
You are still browsing through an unvarnished view of basically any kind of possible thought or image (modulo automated censorship, which we all know fails from time to time).
Tumblr is probably heavier on er
Re: (Score:2)
Most likely they got canned because tumblr, being the favourite social network for the more depressed and frankly crazy girls of varying ages ended up accepting nudes from some such individuals who were well below the legal age, when they posted them themselves.
Such content would obviously not be on any "CP database", and with mainstream media being in full blown "destroy online social networking" crusade, some WSJ, NYT etc investigator most likely ran into such images while searching for any content that c
Re:"an industry database of child sexual abuse mat (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
I imagine they do keep the material, probably in encrypted form such that it needs authorization from multiple people to access. They need to keep it so they have the option of recalculating using alternative perceptual hashes in future.
Re: (Score:2)
Step 1) Access and steal the official comprehensive database of all existing CP.
Step 2) Offer it up for bids to darkweb pedos
Step 3) Retire to Tahiti
If it was that easy, it would be copied so many times there was no profit.
Presumably, they use some kind of fingerprint or hash to match the images, not just index them. This would only allow a low-res thumbnail to be extracted.
But where do you draw the line? The problem with these stories is, you don't know where they are talking, on the spectrum from physical abuse of babies, to topless tabloid page-3 girls. [wikipedia.org]
I guess no O'Brian at work (Score:2)
I guess no O'Brian at work until this gets sorted.
ChinaApple (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Isn't it nice that Apple decides what software you can install on your own device?
Sorry. Even the First Amendment has limits.
Re: (Score:2)
Delete spree (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, I got a TON of messages yesterday from people (mostly artists) who were having their NSFW blogs torn down, even if the blogs were appropriately rated as such. Lots of people had their blogs removed and it has nothing to do with the actual content. Apparently, Tumblr's way of dealing with this problem was to use an automated script to ban a wide variety of blogs with the NSFW tag, and wait for the owners to file appeals.
Also, the real problem was apparently a rash of bots spamming NSFW ads, not specifically child porn. I guess as long as they're Thinking of the Children, it makes the widespread and unfair auto-ban of all NSFW content a bit more PR friendly. Most of the artists I follow that had content removed just draw cartoons, and there's no photos, let alone under-aged art.
Re: (Score:2)
Rumors of the same are circulating in the furry world. Caroo just got banned, and he never posted any photos. Mostly strange fetish drawings, with no child characters. There is clearly something of an automated purge in progress.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently, Tumblr's way of dealing with this problem was to use an automated script to ban a wide variety of blogs with the NSFW tag, and wait for the owners to file appeals.
Ironically Tumblr has for the past 2 years been quite anti porn in general, and it's ironic since other than SJW bullshit porn seems to be the only other major content. They have been actively pushing it into the background, restricting results on searches (you're better off searching on Google inurl:tumblr) and have for the past 2 years randomally swinging the banhammer.
The app itself won't even let you search for porn or porn related words with some bullshit answer like: "That search was awesome but the w
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like they are failing to fix the problem so panicked and went berserk with the ban-hammer. Getting back on Android must be worth a lot to them.
No independant app store ? (Score:1)
You are not allowed to use an independant app repository when using apple ?
You're sooooo screwed.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes you can. Officially there are many independent app repositories, containing stuff not allowed on the app store. It requires a Mac to use them as technically you are only allowed to distribute them as source code. Yes, the applications must be distributed as open-source.
This has been true since iOS 10 or so.
There are unofficial methods to get binaries onto your device, typically as ways to install pirated app
NSFW Fiction vs Non-Fiction (Score:1)