Way to go Apple!

[TNT1]

ABS Brakes have patents as do Air bags and Traction control so you wouldn't recommend those,

Of course there's a very valid argument that abs/traction control/SRS-airbags/etc make people worse drivers, but that's probably irrelevant... Or maybe not...

[LowSky]

So how exactly will this work. Different cultures have different definitions of outrageous behavior. what is considered taboo in one place is family fun in another. For a product that is sold globally I can't see the merit in forcing people to act a certain way.

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

So how exactly will this work. Different cultures have different definitions of outrageous behavior. what is considered taboo in one place is family fun in another. For a product that is sold globally I can't see the merit in forcing people to act a certain way.

Again, it would be a parental control. It's not necessarily on by default, and if it was on, it could be switched off. It's not forcing anyone to do anything.

Plus, if they cared, I'm sure they could apply it only to phones sold in a certain region.

[fatality_uk]

Countdown till Steve Jobs proudly announces "iPerv" the one click sexting app exclusively for iPhone and iPad.. only 9.99$

lol

[LowSky]

ABS Brakes have patents as do Air bags and Traction control so you wouldn't recommend those,

Just because they apply for and maybe granted a patent does not necessarily mean they will prevent other from using their parental control design.

The people who invented ABS and Airbags made a fortune off their patents. Especially when people and governments started to demand them in all cars. Patents helped someone make more money than they might have dreamed.

Of course there's a very valid argument that abs/traction control/SRS-airbags/etc make people worse drivers, but that's probably irrelevant... Or maybe not...

They may or may not be any better or worse, but the statistics show less people dying so its seen as win-win

[endotherm]

ABS Brakes have patents as do Air bags and Traction control so you wouldn't recommend those,

Just because they apply for and maybe granted a patent does not necessarily mean they will prevent other from using their parental control design.

I believe there are numerous patents for different approaches to anti-locking brakes. with a hardware patent, you can just invent a new way to do the same thing. with a software patent however, implementation is not considered, just the claims. with this patent granted, no other inventor could attempt to find another way to implement this kind of parental control (one that uses a custodian-customizable keyword list, per the patent documentation).

but I agree, the op is missing that this is not a novel or original thing, and thus the idea's contribution to society is basically nil. a patent for political censorship would be almost identical. just a difference in who the custodian is.

[KiwiNZ]

The people who invented ABS and Airbags made a fortune off their patents. Especially when people and governments started to demand them in all cars. Patents helped someone make more money than they might have dreamed.



They may or may not be any better or worse, but the statistics show less people dying so its seen as win-win

Thats exactly my my point those devices save lives , the inventors made money , improved their products and saved more lives . Hmmmmm seems good to me. A series of patents that had a win win

[kio_http]

Thats exactly my my point those devices save lives , the inventors made money , improved their products and saved more lives . Hmmmmm seems good to me. A series of patents that had a win win

+1

While OSS exists, we can't expect every thing like that. Just think on the economical and social impact if anyone could walk in a shop and chose anything without paying etc

[Oxwivi]

ABS Brakes have patents as do Air bags and Traction control so you wouldn't recommend those,

Just because they apply for and maybe granted a patent does not necessarily mean they will prevent other from using their parental control design.

I don't think it'd be the same case with softwares.

[mkendall]

I heard on the radio the other day that Apple has come up with something that can prevent sexting and are trying to Patent it.

Giving a child a phone without a camera and getting a plan without text messaging is patentable? Holy Cripes! The patent system is broken.