Report: Apple offers 'freedom from porn'

Gawker Media has published what it claims to be e-mails from Apple founder Steve Jobs that describe Apple offering "freedom from porn".

The companies are currently in a legal dispute about how Gawker's subsidiary Gizmodo obtained a prototype fourth-generation iPhone prior to its launch.

Staff blogger Ryan Tate claims to have contacted Jobs on Friday night, questioning an advertisement that billed the iPad as a "revolution".

"Would he [Bob Dylan] think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with 'revolution'?" Tate asked. "Revolutions are about freedom."

Jobs allegedly responded: "Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn."

The exchange reportedly continued with Tate arguing against Apple's anti-Flash stance and content control, saying Apple was forcing developers to create "weak content in an approved wrapper, versus something interactive that happens to be cross-compiled by Adobe."

According to Gawker's transcript, Jobs replied that Apple was "trying to do the right thing for its users."

"Users, developers and publishers can do whatever they like - they don't have to buy or develop or publish on iPads if they don't want to," he allegedly argued.

"There are almost 200,000 apps in the App Store, so something must be going alright."

iTnews has contacted Apple but has been unable to verify the authenticity of the e-mail exchange.