I occasionally check out my Google Reader feeds on an iPhone app called
iNews,
which lets me load a selection of my feeds rather than going through my
entire list of subscriptions. It also lets me read them offline.
The
other day, version 2.0.6 appeared (by the way, nice of you to push 16
updated apps at once, Apple—second time in a week) and, upon updating
it, up pops a dialog screen warning me that I’m downloading software
that “may be objectionable to children under 17.” Since I was updating
several other apps as well, I couldn’t help but wondering which app had
prompted this message.
Apple enacted the rating system along with the release of iPhone 3.0
last month, which featured beefed up parental ratings. Developers rate
their own applications at either the 4+, 9+, 12+, or 17+ levels, the rubric for which is spelled out
(iTunes link) if you click the rating on any app in the store. Only the
17+ rating is actually enforced, though—Apple says you must be at least
17 to download an application of that rating.
It would not
have occurred to me that Apple would require the innocent little news
reader application to be rated anything more than a 12+, or even higher
than a 4+ for that matter. I mean it’s a news reader for crying out
loud: what could be objectionable to anyone under 17? After all,
Apple's been pretty clear about what kind of content it will and will not let in the App Store.
Upon
opening the app’s page on the iTunes, the App Store presented me with a
lovely list of offenses, warning me about the dangers of reading filth
from purveyors of naughty news such as ABC, CBS, FOX, The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Chicago Sun Times...the
list goes on. (Readers’ Digest? Really?) The likes of David Pogue, Walt
Mossberg, and Andy Ihnatko have clearly been producing material
unsuitable for the underaged.
This issue hasn't gone unnoticed by developers, either. Outspoken Instapaper creator and lead Tumblr developer Marco Arment recently voiced his take on Apple’s seemingly absurd rating system for the App Store. Apple sent him back to work on Instapaper Pro 2.1 because the 12+ rating that he had set was considered inappropriate for such an app.
It
seems that the reasoning behind this is that both iNews and
Instapaper—and very likely other apps of similar nature—allow
unfiltered access to the Internet, where the user can freely obtain
potentially objectionable content. Apple apparently does not want
teenagers to read the news.
Never mind the fact that the freely available Google Mobile App
(still sporting a 4+ rating) can search the entire Internet with no
difficulties. Failing that, Apple’s own Safari is a gateway to
unfiltered internet access. Is the company going to play nanny on that
as well?
To add insult to injury, apps that are rated 17+ are not eligible for promo codes, as our good friends at TUAW discovered.
Promotional codes are often used to provide writers with review copies
of an app; no promo codes means fewer reviews, which in turn prevents
many developers from getting wider exposure for their software. In
addition, developers of news readers, image viewers such as Flickr
apps, search apps, social networking apps, and more may be prevented
from giving out copies of their apps for promotional considerations,
another popular marketing technique.
You might think 17+ is limited to adult-only apps. Apple thinks otherwise.
