Stores’ Open Internet Raises Issues

A photo posted on the iPhoneSavior.com Web site may prompt a chuckle, but the image of an Apple store visitor surfing an adult-oriented Web site reiterates one drawback of allowing customers complete and unrestricted access to the Internet. The photo, taken at the Regent Street (London) store, shows an older man using an 24″ iMac to view an adult–although apparently not pornographic–Web site. According to the caption, and confirmed by the photo itself, the Web site showing nude or semi-nude women was in plain view of anyone walking by the iMac. With a few exceptions, computers at Apple stores are not restricted from accessing any Web site. However, employees are trained and instructed to provide loose monitoring of computer screens and to take action when inappropriate, or even illegal, Web sites are spotted. Veteran store visitors say it’s not common to see adult sites on-screen, but that larger Apple stores seem to attract the most surfers of those sites.