Apple in censorship row over erotic iPad ebooks

Apple has been accused of doctoring the bestseller list at its iBooks store after a number of 'adult literature' titles suddenly disappeared from the charts.
 
Several raunchy tales, including the number one bestseller Blonde and Wet: The Complete Story, an erotic novella by British author Carl East, disappeared from the chart earlier this week after racy fiction began to dominate the list, which shows what titles are being downloaded by iPad users.
 
Blonde and Wet was top of the charts on Monday, while another Carl East effort, Big Sis, was in second place. Six Sexy Stories by Ginger Starr was in fifth place on the list.

But by Tuesday all traces of those three titles had disappeared from the bestseller chart, although the titles in question were still available from the store.
 
In their place the Peter James thiller The Perfect Murder had jumped from three to one on the list and Peter Mandelson's political memoir, The Third Man, had made the top five.
 
It is not the first time that Steve Jobs's company has run into controversy over its attitude towards sexual material on its platforms. Earlier this year, technology website Gizmodo took issue with Apple's approach to iPhone and iPad apps that carried 'smutty' material, accusing it of censorship.
 
One of the reasons for the popularity of erotic fiction on the iPad is that you do not have to physically purchase the reading matter, and other people can't see what you are reading.
 
As Phillip Stone, editor of the Bookseller, told the Daily Mail: "The embarrassment factor of being caught reading something like that in print is not there. If it's on your iPad then no one can tell what you're reading. You could be reading Plato." ·