Apple rejects NAKED HIPPIE ebook, despite apple coverup

Photos A Danish author's ebooks documenting freewheeling hippie nudity have been rejected from Apple's iBookstore in that country, even after the author and publisher covered up the offending naughty bits with images of ripe red apples.

"Apple founder, Steve Jobs, marketed himself as a child of the hippie movement," author Peter vig Knudsen wrote in an open letter (Google Translate) to the Danish Minister of Culture Uffe Elbaek.

"Jobs has said that he got some of his most important insights from LSD and was driven by the desire to ensure peoples of the world easy access to art and knowledge," Knudsen wrote. "Our experience shows the exact opposite."

At issue are two ebooks for the iPhone and iPad (Google Translate). These are not mere tacky T&A teasers; 14 of the images are from acclaimed photographer Gregers Nielsen "perhaps his generation's greatest documentary photographer," Knudsen argues and 15 are by well-recognized artist Bjrn Nrgaard.

"We are talking about a censorship threat to a major part of the Danish cultural heritage", Knudsen writes.

Perhaps the choice of apples rather than neutral black blocks offended Apple's pride more than its prudery

Knudsen's Hippie Company (Google Translate) first tried to get uncensored version of the two ebooks Hippie 1 and Hippie 2 into Apple's iBookstore, but as Hippie Company reported in a press release (Google Translate), Apple required the images to be censored. The publisher then did so by placing red apples over the exposed breasts, penises, and what have you, then resubmitted the two ebooks.

A smoke and a smile, circa 1970

Apple then accepted them, and put them up on its Denmark iBookstore. However, Hippie Company's witty censorship methodology was apparently not appreciated: after four days, they were removed. The publisher has asked Apple to explain the removal, but has not received a reply.

"I and Hippie Company ... tried to get into negotiations with Apple and explain to them that there is a serious, historical-documentary book reproduction of Danish press photo and works of art from the period 1967-70," Knudsen writes.

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Apple rejects NAKED HIPPIE ebook, despite apple coverup