Apple Block Out The Sun

We all know that the UK newspaper The Sun is hardly one of the world’s top prints and its fame is down to some tongue in cheek headlines and of course those page 3 girls. The Sun believes that it's a "family" paper.

A mobile app that renders content from the world's top 50 newspapers, was rejected by iTunes because it included the UK's Sun newspaper on the grounds that it violates the iTunes policy on "obscene content". We would have rejected on the grounds of the claim it was one of the world’s top 50 newspapers.

However, they may be allowed back as Apple have announced that the iPhone new OS 3.0 release will also add expanded parental controls for apps. It is widely claimed that Apple told the developers that it “would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available”, allowing consumers to decide for themselves what content they see in their papers.

Does this mean that parental controls will permit more explicit content? If that is the case then the app may soon clear the 2 billion mark and attract much attention.

The border line between titillating and raunchy or explicit is often hard to define and policing may prove hard once the doors open. However, today Apple finds itself trying to be policemen, censor and provider on a service that bridges geographic boundaries and culture. Not a easy task to perform.