REDMOND, WA — Microsoft Corp.’s new Seadragon graphics viewing application for the iPhone has some Mac fanatics up in arms. They say the app distributes porn to the unsuspecting.Seadragon is free and includes a collection of example images borrowed from the Library of Congress. So far, so good.
However, Seadragon also connects to Microsoft’s Web-based Photosynth service. That’s where the excrement hits the air-circulation device.
Photosynth is a beta product designed to show off some pretty impressive “photo-stitching” technology. Users can upload a virtually unlimited number of images to the site and then stitch them together to form something new. Per the product’s terms of service, adult content is not allowed and will be removed as quickly as it is found — but the warning hasn’t stopped people from using the service in exactly the way Microsoft never intended it be used.
Photosynth is not protected by any sort of age-verification or filtering system, so users of all ages are able to access all of its content. As might be imagined, the anti-Microsoft crowd began chanting “save the children” almost immediately.
“Porn in Microsoft’s Seadragon!” one up-in-arms posting at MacRumors exclaimed. “Yes I know, hard to believe but its [sic] true! Download Seadragon by microsoft [sic] then go to Browse Photosynth. Then the libraries named ‘home_two’ and ‘home_s12’ are full of it. This is ridiculous! Some one [sic] is getting fired for this one!”
The folders have been removed from Photosynth, and presumably Microsoft engineers are taking a closer look at other content on the site, as well.
