One of Google's Nexus One features is voice-to-text, and apparently is reasonably accurate, accurate to the point of censoring certain spoken words. Apparently if you try using a bit of foul language when voicing a text the censor replaces said swear word with ####, reports an article over on Cnet.

Apparently a group at Reuters discovered the Nexus One censor ability which stops swear words from being placed into a text. A spokesperson for Google had stated the censor is not directed at teaching anyone good manners; they just supposedly want to make sure swear words don't accidentally appear in texts.

The Nexus One no swearing censor seems to have cause somewhat of a stir on forums and the blogosphere with some believing the censorship is justified while others not so, and argue the freedom of speech line.

But do Google have the right to censor words? The problem is, who decides what words are inappropriate, as what is a swear word in one part of the world isn't necessarily a swear word somewhere else. The other question is can the censor be refined or turned off by the user as if not then the big brother line comes into play.

China has started scanning phone text messages. Customers of China's two largest mobile phone networks, China Mobile and China Unicom, have had text services blocked after sending risqué messages, state media reported.

China Mobile said it was complying with police demands to report illegal texts, which included pornography and violence or promoted fraud, crime, terrorism and gambling. It said any breach meant a mobile phone would be blocked.

After taking a long hiatus, trojan dialers that can rack up thousands of dollars in charges are back by popular demand.

According to researchers at CA Security's malware analysis lab, a new wave of malicious dialers is hitting users of mobile phones. The trojans are built on the Java 2 Micro Edition programming language and cause infected handsets to send SMS messages to high-cost numbers, at great expense to the victim.

As soon as the application is loaded, this malicious software starts to send premium text messages, CA warned. The messages sent out are in the typical format to invoke premium services and land the mobile user with heavy mobile bills without the user's knowledge and consent.

Apple has yanked forChan from its app store.

Apple deleted the 99-cent app from its lineup. The app specializes in viewing image boards on the web and comes preloaded with images of dogs, but with a few adjustments one can customize the app to view nude women.

Apple's censorial Steve Jobs has said that he won't allow the company to distribute porn, malicious apps, apps that invade your privacy.

Based on article from softsailor.com

I made a mistake and I am sorry. Although I expected this to happen, I feel responsible for the fact that ForChan was banned by Apple from the App Store. A couple of days ago I presented you the first full porn app available at the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Why do I feel this guilt? Well, because this is not a porn app. We, the media, banned the app from the App Store. It's our fault. We introduced it as a porn app because it can browse galleries from the web, most of them happening to consist of nude girls.

ForChan shouldn't be banned because it's not a porn app. It met all of Apple's requirements, but the Cupertino-based company banned it because most of the guys there do not contemplate too much on things. Jesus Diaz, Senior Editor at Gizmodo and one of my favorite tech journalists, says that Apple should ban Safari and Bing from the App Store. I wholeheartedly agree. ForChan allows iPhone users to browser galleries, while Safari and Bing allows users to browse… everything including porn. The only difference is that Safari and Bing contains more porn than ForChan!

German civil-liberties advocates have criticized computer company Apple over terms of use that stop a mass-circulation newspaper sending erotic photos and small ads from prostitutes to the iPhone. The newspaper Bild, which regulary features naked females on its front page, launched an iPhone application last month which allows paying customers to read a digital version of Bild the night before publication.

Bild has confirmed that it is whiting out escort service advertisements and soft porn to satisfy Apple's terms of use. Some liberals accuse Apple of censorship, saying it has no right to stop offensive content if that content is legal in a print publication.

Michael Konken, chairman of a German journalists' union, the DJV, said, It's interference in news reporting. That isn't right. You could call it censorship. He said Apple was a mere conduit for data: The provider is like a truck that transports the content. It's not allowed to dictate the content, he said, echoing criticisms on some liberty-minded German blogs. He said it was up to the courts to decide if content was illegal.

Helmut Heinen, president of the Federation of German Newspaper Publishers, said he too felt uncomfortable with the terms of use: Censorship is not the purpose of the platform provider, but as content sellers we worry it is the thin end of the wedge, he said.

A spokesman for Apple Germany, Georg Albrecht, said the company banned apps with content that was pornographic, illegal or in breach of privacy. But he said Apple was not making the precise guidelines public.

Apple appears to be excluding some applications from its App Store in China. The missing applications include references to the Dalai Lama and Rebiya Kadeer, and is likely a requirement imposed on Apple by the Chinese government, according to PC World.

The blocked apps all relate to exiled spiritual leaders.

Apple isn't the first technology company to censor online content to comply with China laws. Google -- the company with the do no evil business model -- already blocks pornographic and many politically-related search results in China. According to the Internet search company, it must comply with China's laws and regulations to offer its services in the country.

The growing popularity of the iPhone in Korea may necessitate the rating of App Store game offerings by government censors.

The Korean Herald notes that currently all games in Korea must be approved by the country's Game Rating Board. In deference to this, the Korean version of the App Store currently does not offer a game category at all, but concern remains over games that could be downloaded from the App Store's entertainment category or from the App Store of other countries.

Korea's Game Rating Board ratings consist of four categories: All (for everyone) 12-year +, 15-year+ and 18+

You can drink a virtual beer on Apple's iPhone through the company's wildly popular App Store, but the same app has been rejected for distribution on Microsoft's answer - Marketplace - because of a self-imposed morals-based content policy.

Microsoft mobile developer marketing director for the Asia Pacific region, Chris Chin, says his company's policy whilst not necessarily family friendly, it is at least acceptable to the public.

These policies have evolved, they're not quite 'family friendly', more just acceptable to the general public, he says, citing the example of two games. Video Poker, which is on Marketplace but not necessarily family friendly although considered acceptable to the general public. As opposed to the mobile version of the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto - which is not found in Marketplace. I don't know if that would be accepted but I think probably not, Chin says.

And what about the innocuous virtual iBeer app? Well. that fell foul of Microsoft's rules on any content deemed to encourage the excessive consumption of alcohol! As for anything remotely sexually titillating, you won't find it anywhere on Microsoft Marketplace. According to the content guidelines, material considered borderline pornography is banned outright.

Chris Chin says, On iTunes, soft porn ranks highly, Victoria's Secret for example and others. There are some, which are very direct, such as Beautiful Boobs. You will never find them on Microsoft Marketplace, under the current content policies.

The trouble with this sort of moralising is of course that users, who after alll pay for services they wish to avail themselves of, are denied access to perfectly legal content because some faceless and unaccountable corporate puritan on a mission to impose censorship decides unilaterally to bar it.

Metrodome Group, the arthouse film distributor of many films of interest to Melon Farmers, is understood to have clinched a deal with Apple to make its titles available on iTunes for internet users to buy or rent.

Metrodome is the first small independent distribution company to sign a direct agreement with iTunes. Traditionally, indies have had to rely on doing a deal with a large studio or major distributor such as Momentum to get their films on to iTunes, paying their partner a percentage in the process.

Apple will still take a share of the revenues in return for giving access to the huge iTunes audience but the deal is more attractive for Metrodome and an important endorsement for a business that was struggling a year ago with the collapse of one of its largest customers when Woolworths went into administration. After refinancing, however, the firm recovered strongly and half-year revenues rose 30% at £4.5m with profits up almost a quarter.

The iTunes deal will see much of the company's back catalogue and new releases available for Apple customers.