Apple censors James Joyce's Ulysses on the iPad

Posted on 9 Jun 2010 at 11:05

Apple has censored a comic book adaptation of Ulysses, regarded as one of the greatest works of 20th century English literature.

James Joyce's novel Ulysses may be highly regarded, but it's also infamous for its dense stream-of-consciousness style which is difficult to read as well as for several sexually explicit passages which has made it the subject of several obscenity lawsuits in the past.

Although an annotated Penguin edition of Ulysses is available for purchase from Apple's iBooks store on the iPad, when it came to a comic book adaptation of the novel sold as an iPad app, Apple insisted that any depiction of nudity be removed entirely. According to an interview with the artist Rob Berry (which has images of the uncensored panels in question), Apple wouldn't accept a compromise such as covering the offending body parts with a fig leaf or pixellation.

Although Apple, like all retailers, is within its rights to decide what to sell through its online stores this latest move is dangerously close to unjustifiable censorship in our view. This latest App Store controversy follows the recent incident where Apple temporarily rejected an iPhone app containing satirical political cartoons. This 'ridicules public figures' which isn't allowed according to Apple's App Store developer agreement.

Has Apple gone too far in its latest App Store rejection? Leave your comments below.

Author: Alan Lu

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