WASHINGTON, DC—Anti-porn crusade and former Justice Department official Pat Trueman is at it again, making outrageous accusations in order to bring public and economic pressure on Apple for supposedly making hardcore pornography available through its iTunes Store.
"Children are getting pornography through Apple, [and] of course adults are," Trueman told OneNewsNow, a right-wing news site formerly known as AgapePress News Summary. "Much of it's free, and some of it you pay 99 cents for, but iTunes is now filled with pornography—and this is a development that has been building for some time."
Indeed, Trueman himself has been the one developing this issue over the years. In July 2008, AVN reported on the former prosecutor’s fears regarding iTunes, which he said was making it too easy for children to access content. Porn, he warned, was not far off.
"What you're finding now is a couple of podcasts that are almost entirely sexually explicit with Apple saying that these are OK for now," he said, and called on parents to contact Apple to voice their concerns. “Go to Apple.com customer service and suggest to them that they should keep iTunes clean," he exhorted. "iTunes is where many children get their music, get their movies, etc. So it's entirely open to children—and Apple is mindful of that. We've to get Apple convinced that it should monitor it very closely."
A year and a half later, Trueman—unsatisfied with either Apple’s response to his warnings, or his followers lack of response—is trying to instigate another public outcry.
“Trueman believes this is something the public should not tolerate,” said OneNewsNow, “especially if they have children who can access the site either through computers or iPhones. He suggests they contact Apple and register a complaint.”
According to Trueman, one simple step takes customers, including children, to hardcore material, "so a child that's looking on [the] computer at the Apple site iTunes will not only see nudity there, but they just have to click on a link and they're in the midst of hardcore pornography."
Of course, that assertion simply is not true. The Apple iTunes store—if that is precisely what Trueman is referring to, which is questionable—is notorious for not allowing explicit imagery on its site.
A recent article in the Las Vegas Weekly cites just this fact with respect to iPhone Apps, some of which do contain sexually oriented content.
“The iPhone has applications for just about everything—games, music and videos. But what about pornography? Now there is an app for that. In fact, there are now hundreds of apps for porn, but consumers won’t find them in the Apple App Store; they’ll find them in the Sex App Shop,” wrote Katherine Fernelius.
While it could be the case that Trueman truly sees pornography where none exists, what seems far more likely—especially considering the fact that his current and former clients include the American Family Association, Morality in Media, the Family Research Council and Alliance Defense Fund—is that he is once again tactically crying “fire” before any actual blaze exists.
