‘Barely Legal Teen’ Censored By Apple’s iCloud

Emails containing the phrase “barely legal teen” are being deleted by Apple’s cloud storage and email service, iCloud.

According to Macworld, testers tried unsuccessfully to send an email containing the phrase “he’s a barely legal teenage driver.” However, after rewording the message to say “barely a legal teenage driver,” it went through without issue.

The issue was originally discovered by a screenwriter that faced the same problem while trying to send a screenplay PDF attachment that contained that words “barely legal teen.” Once the phrase was changed, the writer’s email was processed normally.

Apple does in fact have a right to monitor content that’s sent through iCloud, and it’s stated clearly in their terms of service:

“You acknowledge that Apple is not responsible or liable in any way for any Content provided by others and has no duty to pre-screen such Content. However, 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.”

Trudy Miller, an Apple spokeswoman, told the San Francisco Chronicle that iCloud uses automated spam filters that occasionally block legitimate material from being sent.

Do you agree that it’s okay for Apple to filter words and phrases like “barely legal teen” from users, or is this censorship something that needs to be changed?