Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, has lead charge against censoring app Said app was no different to suppression of books throughouthistory Software blocks offensive words in e-books, including the word 'damn'

By Laura Cox for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:38 EST, 24 March 2015 | Updated: 18:48 EST, 24 March 2015

Chocolat author Joanne Harris blasted the app, saying what starts out with blanking out a few words ends with 'burning libraries'

As one person bluntly put, it is f****** horrifying.

An app that blanks out swear words in e-books has prompted outrage among writers including Chocolat author Joanne Harris, who have accused it of censoring their work without permission.

Last night Mrs Harris, 50, took to her blog to write a scathing critique of the Clean Reader application which has been designed to help parents protect their children from explicit content.

It operates on a sliding scale from clean, which removes only the worst swear words, to squeaky clean which even takes out damn.

Condemning the app on her blog, in a post titled why Im saying f*** you to Clean Reader, Mrs Harris, whose book was turned into a Hollywood film starring Juliette Binoche, 51, and Johnny Depp, 51, likened the programme to examples of suppression from history.

She said: 'Anyone who works with words understands their power. Words, if used correctly, can achieve almost anything.

See the article here:

Censorship row over Clean Reader app that takes swear words out of ebooks