Over the weekend, Ars Technica made an interesting notion that Google may come under heavy fire by the Parents Television Council, the group partially responsible for Apple's recent Sweep of Death through the Apps Store that nuked numerous porn-related apps. The same group now wants to go after other mobile platforms, including the Android Market.
"We plan to draw attention to other platforms, such as Android, or Verizon's Vcast service, that aren't really doing anything," said the PTC's national grassroots director McKiernan." We definitely want to see progress from some of the other handheld devices."
The comment came immediately after Steve Jobs shot down Google's mobile OS as an all-you-can-eat porn buffet open to the entire family. While the availability of mobile porn may appeal to some, Jobs had a point: Google currently does not offer any type of parenting control for Android-based devices. With that said, any Android owner can jump on the Market and download apps that can stream pure porn to the device.
But it doesn't stop there either. Users can also toggle on the Android's ability to install apps from "unknown sources"--those not listed on the Market. Not only does this allow the use of "homebrew" applications (which is a whole other piracy issue in itself), it also opens the door to additional porn-related applications. This could be problematic for parents who purchased an Android-based smartphone for their children, especially those under the age of 18. In fact, providing access to porn could be a legal issue.
Again, there needs to be parental controls. The PTC made it clear that it wasn't set out to ban porn altogether, but rather wants it inaccessible to the minors. "Our goal is on limiting children's access to objectionable content and ensuring parents have the ability to limit this access when deemed necessary," McKiernan told Ars. "We take no stance on the ability of adults to access legal images, movies, or whatever the case may be."
