BeautyMeter, the app which managed to sneak “child pornography” onto the iPhone , has been pulled from the iTunes App Store.

The application lets users upload pictures of themselves and then other people vote on their face, body and clothes (or lack thereof). The internet was set afire yesterday when it appeared that a 15-year-old girl had uploaded a snap of herself, clearly showing nipples and “partially nude at the bottom” as our own prudish Brian Chen put it yesterday. Probably as a direct consequence, the application is no longer available for download.

The problems for Apple are clear. By setting itself up as a guardian of the store, Apple can’t win. Any time a controversial application is approved, or non-allowed elements are snuck into an application post-approval, Apple is blamed. If these apps are pulled ahead of time, Apple is called out as an evil censor.

In this case, we think that nudity is the only problem. First, if the photo in question was uploaded by the girl herself, who is committing a crime? Second, I have friends who have browsed enough porn sites to know that the ages are almost always revised down. It might say 15 on the page, but that doesn’t mean that it’s true.

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