Tag Archives: dangers on Apple’s App Store

The Dirty Dozen

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Dirty_moviep.jpg

Poster for The Dirty Dozen, Source http://www.movieposter.com 

The Dirty Dozen is a classic war film from the 1960s starring Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, and Telly Savales [1].  In the film, a dozen military prisoners are selected for a dangerous mission against the Nazis.

Unfortunately, those who target children for purposes of sexual exploitation are equally sinister adversaries.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has released its own Dirty Dozen List for 2023 https://endsexualexploitation.org/dirtydozenlist-2023/ .  This is a list of corporations which facilitate, enable, or profit from policies which put children at risk.

Often these corporation provide the tech platforms we use daily.  Unfortunately, they can make children targets in their own homes by allowing strangers easy access for grooming and sexual abuse.

This year the Dirty Dozen List includes eBay and Apple’s App Store; the social media sites Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, and Kik; the popular music site Spotify; and the video game sites Roblox and Discord.

The goal is to motivate these companies to improve their practices.  That approach has, in the past, been successful with Amazon, Walmart, Verizon, and United Airlines.

The burden is on consumers to make their concerns known.

[1]  IMDb, “The Dirty Dozen (1967)”, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061578/.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  https://alawyersprayers.com

7 Comments

Filed under Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Community, Emotional Abuse, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse

Rotten Apples – Dangerous Apps at the Apple Store

Rotten apple, Author Vitalii Shmorgun, Source https://web.500px.com (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

An investigation by the Washington Post has uncovered more than 1500 complaints of unwelcome sexual behavior on popular apps offered by Apple’s App Store [1].

Children were frequently the target of offensive behavior that included surprise masturbation by adult males and pressure for participants to disrobe.  Along with sexual content, complaints were, also, made of racism and bullying.

The apps investigated were Monkey, Yubo, Skout, Holla, ChatLive, and Chat for Strangers.  These social media platforms allow strangers to connect via video chat.

Apple markets its App Store as a safe setting and claims to carefully review each app.

Tragically, we value commerce over the safety of our children.

[1]  iMore, “The Washington Post:  1,500 instances of ‘unwanted sexual approaches’ uncovered in App Store reviews of random chat apps” by Stephen Warwick, 11/22/19, https://www.imore.com/washington-post-says-it-found-1500-instances-unwanted-sexual-approaches-app-store-reviews-random.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: https://alawyersprayers.com

14 Comments

Filed under bullying, Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Emotional Abuse, Neglect, racism, Sexual Abuse