No no, we're doomed. The iPhone SDK represents a giant step in the wrong direction for the computer industry.

Apple's motivations seem reasonable enough, and that's the problem. Apple will be the only legal outlet for iPhone applications. Apple is worried, quite correctly, that malware authors will use the SDK to make applications that steal personal information from people's phones, or spy on their browsing habits, or otherwise wreck havoc on customers' lives.

So, to develop software for the iPhone, you must purchase an encryption key from Apple. That key proves that Apple has blessed your software, and if your software misbehaves, Apple can revoke your key, preventing your application from ever running again.

The encryption keys cost $100, which isn't much of a barrier to entry, unlike some encryption keys I could mention. So the problem isn't that indy developers can't write software for the iPhone -- the problem is Apple reserves the right to refuse to sell your software for any reason whatsoever. Obviously they don't want to sell viruses or malware, so this policy seems harmless enough -- until you hit the inevitable censorship. And as usual, the very first thing to get censored is human sexuality.

PORN! Apple has stated quite clearly that they will not sell pornographic apps. This is sheer idiocy. Mobile XTube is a killer app for the travelling businessman confronted with a $20/minute pay-per-view charge at the hotel. That's mad bank for Apple's software store, or at least it would be, if Apple weren't intent on controlling other people's sex lives.

Furthermore, Apple already sells porn via iTunes -- I'm hearing "My neck, my back, lick my pussy and my crack" as I type this, and I downloaded that track from the iTunes store. And isn't any music video soft core at this point? I mean, could Britney wear less? The iTunes store already has parental controls to filter out this sort of material, so there's no reason Apple couldn't use the same filters for software applications.

No, Apple has shot itself in the foot. Someone in the world will want his XTube, and there will be hacked installers that will let users put any software they want on the iPhone. Power to the people! And to the malware authors. By attempting to control everything about the iPhone software market, Apple will only create a black market, with all that entails. Also, it's simply a matter of time before somebody recovers the encryption key used for popular legitimate applications -- imagine a virus masquerading as Adobe's iPhone application.

I'd like to say this only affects millions of iPhone users in the world, but unfortunately we really are doomed. The entire software industry is moving in this direction. Vista and Leopard already have similar encryption mechanisms in place to prevent unauthorized software from running. Those mechanisms aren't used much -- you can install any potential malware on your system that you want, at least for now. But if Apple will prevent you from looking at porn on your phone, why won't they prevent you from looking at it on your home computer?

The personal computer used to be an open-ended tool that you could use however you wanted. You could write novels, or make movies, or form political groups, and yes, you could even look at naughty bits while doing those other things. But now the personal computer is slowly but surely becoming yet another tool to save us from our own sex drives, and from any other undesirable thoughts and feelings we may have. It's enough to drive a man to Linux.