Skip to main content

Apple censors e-mails, attachments with the term ‘barely legal teen’

appleIt appears Apple isn’t down with whatever sketchy things are going on in your e-mails. Reports have emerged that the Cupertino company has been censoring messages sent and received via its iCloud mail program, ensuring that anyone looking for “barely legal” pornography – or, for that matter, anything else that include the term “barely legal” – will be sorely disappointed.

The InfoWorld blog initially broke the story thanks to an e-mail from a reader who had trouble sending a screenplay using iCloud, even though other attachments worked fine, and the problematic attachment could be sent using alternate e-mail solutions. After compressing the file – meaning its contents would be sent without Apple’s virus scan – the screenplay was able to be sent and received by iCloud, leading to the assumption that – just maybe – there was something wrong with the screenplay’s contents.

“AND THEN I SAW IT,” the reader explained. “A line in the script, describing a character viewing an advertisement for a pornographic site on his computer screen. Upon modifying this line, the entire document was delivered with no problem.” Curious as to whether this was a one-off glitch or a sign of a larger policy that Apple had failed to make public, InfoWorld’s sibling blog MacWorld decided to send a couple of test messages to investigate further.

“The message read ‘My friend’s son is already allowed to drive his high-powered car. It’s ridiculous. He’s a barely legal teenage driver? What on earth is John thinking.’ The second email amended the phrase ‘a barely legal” to ‘barely a legal,'” the site wrote. “This second email was delivered fine, whereas the first is still undelivered. Upon further testing we discovered that the phrase is not blocked by Siri or iMessages, both of which can search and send messages containing the term ‘barely legal teen.'”

Legally speaking, Apple isn’t doing anything wrong in refusing to deliver the “barely legal” messages. The iCloud terms of service makes it clear that “Apple reserves the right at all times to determine whether Content is appropriate and in compliance with this Agreement, and may pre-screen, move, refuse, modify and/or remove Content at any time, without prior notice and in its sole discretion, if such Content is found to be in violation of this Agreement or is otherwise objectionable,” after all.

However, it’s unlikely that many people would be entirely comfortable with the idea that Apple is quietly reviewing the content of messages sent via iCloud, never mind refusing to deliver messages that it finds objectionable without any alerting of either sender or receiver that this was the case.

When contacted by InfoWorld, Apple did not offer comment. As more people find out about it, it’s safe to say that probably won’t stay the case for too long.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Graeme McMillan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A transplant from the west coast of Scotland to the west coast of America, Graeme is a freelance writer with a taste for pop…
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9 heavily discounted today
The Surface Pro 9 in laptop mode on a table.

Microsoft's Surface devices are well known for their versatility and performance, but they command premium prices. That's why there's always high demand for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals, as who doesn't want to enjoy a discount when making a huge investment? If you're interested, Best Buy is offering the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 at $300 off, which brings its price down to $1,000 from $1,300, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 at $540 off, which lowers its price also to $1,000 from $1,540, ahead of the arrival of the consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10. You need to push through with your transaction as soon as possible if either of these bargains caught your attention, as we're not sure how much time is remaining before they disappear.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 -- $1,000, was $1,300

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a traditional Windows 11 laptop that's powered by the 12th-generation Intel Core i5 Evo processor, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and 8GB of RAM. It won't match up to the performance of the best laptops, but it's going to be more than enough to handle daily tasks for work or school. The laptop features a 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen with vibrant colors and sharp details, a battery that can last up to 18 hours on a single charge, and a 512GB SSD that provides ample storage space for your files. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 also comes with a 720p webcam and dual far-field Studio Mics for clear video calls.

Read more
The best MacBook to buy in 2024
Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

Now that Apple has started outfitting its laptops with its M3 generation of chips, it's time to take another look at which is the best MacBook to buy in 2024. That’s not always easy, though, as buying the newest MacBook isn’t always the right decision. Apple has several tiers of performance, as well as various sizes, which can further complicate the matter.

What’s more, you can also still get M1 and M2 MacBooks, some from Apple’s own website and some from third-party retailers. But are they still worth your money? Our guide should help you decide.

Read more
9 best laptops of 2024: tested and reviewed
The MacBook Air on a white table.

To earn the crown as the best laptop in 2024, a device needs to have it all: gorgeous design, killer performance, a productive keyboard, long-lasting battery life, and much more.

Each of the laptops below has been vetted thoroughly by Digital Trends. Whether it's an affordable Chromebook or a top-of-the-line gaming laptop, they've all been subjected to real-world testing, as well as benchmark and battery tests, to collect enough data to objectively pit them against each other.

Read more