Did Apple deliberately sabotage the iPod Photo to make it useless for storing porn?
Tokyo-based blogger Keith Finch thinks so. Earlier this month, Finch noted his iPod Photo occassionally introduces pictures from other albums while viewing a slideshow.
Finch initially thought it an annoying but meaningless bug. Then he wondered what might happen if people stored saucy pictures in "private" albums, not intended for public consumption.
"Just imagine," Finch wrote in e-mail. "You whip out your iPod and scroll down to the 'Playground Pictures' album to show your female colleagues some cute photos of your five-year-old, and while you're click-click-clicking along, and they're cooing and applauding your fatherly instincts, suddenly WHOA!, without warning or explanation an unthinkable image from your double-secret "Hot Butts" photo album appears, and then is gone. For months afterward, you get sneers at the water cooler. Bet you'll never try that again, buster!"
Finch continued: "Perhaps some right-thinking person on the iPod Photo firmware team inserted this 'bug' on purpose, as a feature to help discourage sinfully-minded types from loading up their iPods with porn."
Update: To illustrate this story, I thoughtlessly used a copyrighted image belonging to L.A. photographer Caesar Lima. I used the image because it's sexy but not explicit, and the subject is listening to an iPod. But I didn't seek Caesar's permission and I didn't credit his work. Also, because of the nature of the post, I likened the image to pornography, which it is not. I sincerely apologize to Caesar, who's kindly allowed me to use his work in the past, and hope he will forgive my carelessness.
