Apple Adds 'Explicit' Category for New App Store Submissions

[KnightWRX]

Out here in Silicon Valley many family units have scientists or engineers in them who are more than able to teach math and science at a much higher level than can be taught in most of the public schools (some exceptions in certain towns, of course). And there are networks of home schooling parents, so, for example, if one parent is going to teach a unit on newtonian physics, other parents bring their kids over, and they all chip in for appropriate props, equipment, and other materials. Sometimes the class takes place in some family member's lab at Stanford or Berkeley. Some other parent may be best suited to teach history, etc.

In other words, the "home" in "home schooling" is a bit of an exaggeration, at least out here.

Of course, what you describe is more akin to traditionnal schooling than home schooling. Basically, different parents teach different subjects on which they have better understanding... kinda of like teachers in high school.

Sounds more like a problem with the local high school hiring policy than an actual problem with the traditionnal model.

 

[gnasher729]

You don't think you're children haven't seen any sexual images or even looked at porn? Hells, even had sex yet?

Mr. Kresh complained about porn rated as 4+. I could imagine that his four year olds haven't looked at porn yet.

 

[paperless]

I've no respect whatsoever for anyone in the business of making money with the body of women. Apple is just opening a side door for the "dirty" content. But hey, the sign in the front door says "clean!"

Are you against free will too?

If I was a woman I think I'd feel slightly offended by your statement.

 

[zync]

No, I meant socially misadjusted by having been taught that mistrust is the way of life and that not mingling with other people is probably for the best.

And yes, home schooling is the fastest growing form for a reason, that's because traditionnal schooling is well established and thus can only grow as population levels rise. Home schooling is the new fad on the block and can grow as much as paranoid over-protective parents that don't know any better can manage to make children.

Think of it like Old company selling 50,000,000 units per year, and suddenly selling 60,000,000 (traditionnal schooling) and New company selling 10 units per year and suddenly selling 20...

Your argument is as sound as people claiming New Company is set to overtake the market, "just look at their growth!".

+1

We have a family business and Yes we home school, home schooling is the fastest growing form of education in the US. It is the fastest growing form for a reason!

edit: If you mean socially misadjusted by not feeling at home in a strip bar, or an orgy, then yes they will be mal-adjusted.

Even if you're able to watch your kids 24/7, which I find to be absolutely abhorrent, you probably won't outlive them. They'll eventually get away from you and probably experiment in all the ways you never let them.

Life is about learning from mistakes. If you're never allowed to make a mistake, you never live and you never learn. Life is also about relationships and if your kids are never exposed to anyone fundamentally different than they are, their minds and frames of reference will never expand. I happen to find that important.

Meanwhile, people will continue to parent like my parents did, and produce well-rounded children. I was rarely told 'no' because my parents trusted me and as a result, I did things that were trustworthy. That's not to say that I never did anything wrong or never got into trouble, but I was a good kid. And, I've never used any illegal drugs even though it would have been easy for me to do so.

Also, I've never gone to a strip bar, though if I recall correctly my city has the highest amount per capita, and I've never been involved in an orgy, not that I think that it's wrong to be in one.

I became a Catholic when I was in high school—my parents allowed me to have a choice of religion and so never baptised me when I was young. Because of having the choice, I respected my choice of religion. But, I promptly left that religion because no one else took it seriously and I didn't want to be lumped into that group. I also realized that I didn't really believe it and yet I was more reverent and had more respect for it than they did, even though they had been at it longer. I became agnostic and gave up on religion entirely because I think it more noble to be and act good than to do so because a book said so. I don't need the threat of hell to keep me from making bad decisions or being an *******. If there is a god, and he's as just as people want to believe, I don't think that he'd condemn me for being a good person despite not believing in him. If he did, that's retarded, and I wouldn't want to be in that company anyway.

Of course some of the crazy zealots would still call me a heathen. C'est la vie.

In short, I think there's a lot less black and white out there than you seem to think. I turned out fine and my parents never had to snoop on me. That's just something for you to think about.

 

[kresh]

Aaah, total isolation from peers and handguns... Your kids will be perfectly prepared for the real world.

I hope you are not their language teacher, because your posts and signature contain quite a few errors..

If you will point me to the National standards body that regulates the language, then I will be happy to comply with their language rules. Oh wait this is not French.

But you are correct my wife handles all of the languages.

 

[Torajima]

It's also going to be a mess. A swimsuit catalog in the same category as a game featuring a cartoon woman in hotpants in the same category as iWobble.

Cartoon hotpants?

Tomb Raider would be an 'explicit' app according to Apple. Even Mario Strikers would be 'explicit'!

 

[LoganT]

I don't consider an "application" that just displays photos and does nothing more an "application" at all. Those apps shouldn't have been banned because they were overtly sexual, they should have been banned because they duplicate functionality.

 

[cmaier]

Of course, what you describe is more akin to traditionnal schooling than home schooling. Basically, different parents teach different subjects on which they have better understanding... kinda of like teachers in high school.

Sounds more like a problem with the local high school hiring policy than an actual problem with the traditionnal model.

California has horrible public schools (but, of course, an excellent public university system). An old state referendum essentially caps property taxes based on when you bought your house, so new people pay high taxes while long-time residents pay less. But since you can only bleed people so much, that leaves too little money to pay for decent schools in many places. It also means it's very expensive for people to live, so talented folks prefer to work in industry and earn 5x what they can get as a teacher.

 

[cmaier]

Cartoon hotpants?

Tomb Raider would be an 'explicit' app according to Apple. Even Mario Strikers would be 'explicit'!

There was an app called "Daisy Mae" (I think) that was banned in the purge - it was essentially a tomb-raider'ish cartoon depiction of a woman as the main character.

 

[cmaier]

If you will point me to the National standards body that regulates the language, then I will be happy to comply with their language rules. Oh wait this is not French.

But you are correct my wife handles all of the languages.

Surely you are not suggesting that there is no such thing as "proper" English?

 

[kresh]

+1



Even if you're able to watch your kids 24/7, which I find to be absolutely abhorrent, you probably won't outlive them. They'll eventually get away from you and probably experiment in all the ways you never let them.

Life is about learning from mistakes. If you're never allowed to make a mistake, you never live and you never learn. Life is also about relationships and if your kids are never exposed to anyone fundamentally different than they are, their minds and frames of reference will never expand. I happen to find that important.

Meanwhile, people will continue to parent like my parents did, and produce well-rounded children. I was rarely told 'no' because my parents trusted me and as a result, I did things that were trustworthy. That's not to say that I never did anything wrong or never got into trouble, but I was a good kid. And, I've never used any illegal drugs even though it would have been easy for me to do so.

Also, I've never gone to a strip bar, though if I recall correctly my city has the highest amount per capita, and I've never been involved in an orgy, not that I think that it's wrong to be in one.

I became a Catholic when I was in high school—my parents allowed me to have a choice of religion and so never baptised me when I was young. Because of having the choice, I respected my choice of religion. But, I promptly left that religion because no one else took it seriously and I didn't want to be lumped into that group. I also realized that I didn't really believe it and yet I was more reverent and had more respect for it than they did, even though they had been at it longer. I became agnostic and gave up on religion entirely because I think it more noble to be and act good than to do so because a book said so. I don't need the threat of hell to keep me from making bad decisions or being an *******. If there is a god, and he's as just as people want to believe, I don't think that he'd condemn me for being a good person despite not believing in him. If he did, that's retarded, and I wouldn't want to be in that company anyway.

Of course some of the crazy zealots would still call me a heathen. C'est la vie.

In short, I think there's a lot less black and white out there than you seem to think. I turned out fine and my parents never had to snoop on me. That's just something for you to think about.

I have not ridiculed anyone in my posts. If you turned out great, congratulations.

The sad fact is that since the sixties drug use, underage sex, teenage pregnancy, civil disrespect, criminal disobedience, and on and on have risen.

Parents fell for the Doctor Spocks of the world and forgot how to raise kids, now those kids have grown and had their own kids who believe that the way they were brought up was how it was done throughout all time.

It is just not so, this laissez-faire method of raising children is relatively recent.

Wow, I am keeping these off post replies coming and I apologize. I should never have said anything and will definitely go back on topic.

 

[kresh]

Surely you are not suggesting that there is no such thing as "proper" English?

No I was replying to the comment that my written English skills were poor. I was just saying that since there is no Nationally Governed proper English I feel emboldened to freely express myself.

 

[Torajima]

So, R rated movies are okay on the iTunes store. X rated music is okay.

Why should games be any different? Do you really want to return to the 1990s 'games are for children' mentality?

 

[Vmaatta]

Backtrack on Backlash

Apple took in the backlash of their heavy handed moralizing (not to mention double standards) and thought “now we did something wrong” . And decided on this new category.

And credit to where credit is due.. I think the category idea is a good one. Presumably it’ll give people the chance to disable the complete category for whatever reason (and not just via age limit etc.).

One way or the other.. they really should communicate their intentions better.

 

[guzhogi]

I am not against porn per se. I just believe that there is no way that a child of 14 or 17 has the wisdom to make the decision for themselves as to it being harmful to them.

I totally agree. I hope you help them gain that wisdom since you obviously have the experience since you have 4 kids. (I know, that sounds weird, but I meant it well).

I appreciate the fact that you teach them responsibility with guns. I'll admit, I don't like guns and violence. However, I'd rather people teach their kids to use responsibility with them then totally ban any & all knowledge of them.

Much like many of the other people in this thread, I still wonder why sex is so much more taboo than violence. I know sex is supposed to be a private act & violence not so much, the idea of hurting someone is just so much more repulsive to me. What can I say? I'm a lover, not a fighter & we should make love, not war.

 

[AdeFowler]

Damned if the do, Damned if the don't. There's no way to win this debate. I just hope that explicit apps are excluded from the Top App Charts.

 

[Jaro65]

Access to Explicit category through parental controls? That would work.

 

[baryon]

Isn't this what they should've done in the first place? Instead of removing the Apps, they could just have put them in this category.


By the way, I really don't understand why parents were angry at Apple for allowing sexual content, they can always set parental controls to not allow downloading age-restricted apps... But now this is even more pronounced... No more excuses Apple!

 

[kresh]

I totally agree. I hope you help them gain that wisdom since you obviously have the experience since you have 4 kids.

I appreciate the fact that you teach them responsibility with guns. I'll admit, I don't like guns and violence. However, I'd rather people teach their kids to use responsibility with them then totally ban any & all knowledge of them.

Much like many of the other people in this thread, I still wonder why sex is so much more taboo than violence. I know sex is supposed to be a private act & violence not so much, the idea of hurting someone is just so much more repulsive to me. What can I say? I'm a lover, not a fighter & we should make love, not war.

Thank you. There was an incident that leaves me pretty sure my son is not prone to violence. He wanted to go hunting. I took him hunting. He shot a squirrel and was so excited. As we approached the squirrel he turned green and regurgitated. He handed me the shotgun (a Remington Pump 410) and told me that he didn't want it anymore.

I told him that was fine, but if he wanted to keep it and only shoot clay pigeons with it that would be ok as well. So that is what we do. I really don't think he could shoot a human being, even under duress.

 

[doctoree]

Are you against free will too?

If I was a woman I think I'd feel slightly offended by your statement.

The problem is his/hers perception of sexuality beeing "dirty" while it actually is the most natural, nice and healthy thing on the planet.

 

[cmaier]

The sad fact is that since the sixties drug use, underage sex, teenage pregnancy, civil disrespect, criminal disobedience, and on and on have risen.

Drug use by minors has FALLEN since 1979: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/druguse/

Teenage pregnancy rate has FALLEN since 1986:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/teen_preg_stats.html

Civil disrespect is not a thing, so I'll ignore it.

Criminal disobedience - I assume you mean "crimes committed?" The juvenile arrest rate has FALLEN since 1980: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/

In other words, in the last 25-30 years, all of these things are on the decline. But, by the way, in areas that are usually considered more socially conservative (death penalty states, states that vote Republican in national elections, etc.) these things have declined less or, in some cases, have increased (some of the links have state-by-state data).

 

[guzhogi]

This reminds me all those people who say the only thing that should be taught in sex ed is abstinence. Sex ed was never offered in my school, so can someone tell me how kids learn about sex? To me, it seems that these people just want teachers to say "Don't have sex until you're married," yet don't mention what they should do after marriage. How will they learn about STDs, using protection, & the process of being pregnant (ie what happens to both the mother's & baby's bodies during the pregnancy)?

 

[kresh]

Drug use by minors has FALLEN since 1979: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/druguse/

Teenage pregnancy rate has FALLEN since 1986:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/teen_preg_stats.html

Civil disrespect is not a thing, so I'll ignore it.

Criminal disobedience - I assume you mean "crimes committed?" The juvenile arrest rate has FALLEN since 1980: http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/

In other words, in the last 25-30 years, all of these things are on the decline. But, by the way, in areas that are usually considered more socially conservative (death penalty states, states that vote Republican in national elections, etc.) these things have declined less or, in some cases, have increased (some of the links have state-by-state data).

You are not looking from the starting point of 1966. Sure they have fallen from their peak since some parents started fighting back through home schooling and such, but the rates are not near as low as they were before the sea change in parenting that the 60's brought about.

As more and more parents accept responsibility for their children I expect the rates to keep falling. It's a great thing!

 

[kresh]

This reminds me all those people who say the only thing that should be taught in sex ed is abstinence. Sex ed was never offered in my school, so can someone tell me how kids learn about sex? To me, it seems that these people just want teachers to say "Don't have sex until you're married." But how will kids learn about what happens they're married? How will they learn about STDs, using protection, & the process of being pregnant?

How did kids learn in the 1700's, 1800's and most of the 1900's? Some things they were taught at home and the rest they learned on their wedding night.

Me and my wife bumbled through our wedding night, believe me it is hard wired into humans to procreate, just at the appropriate time.

 

[cmaier]

You are not looking from the starting point of 1966. Sure they have fallen from their peak since some parents started fighting back through home schooling and such, but the rates are not near as low as they were before the sea change in parenting that the 60's brought about.

As more and more parents accept responsibility for their children I expect the rates to keep falling. It's a great thing!

Some of these stats started in 1979. I would go back further if I could find the data. But even assuming that some of these things spiked in the 60's or early 70's, I blame Nixon, the Vietnam War, and Ronald Reagan. I see no evidence this had anything to do with a "sea change in parenting" since the sea change has occurred, most parents buy into these things and raise their kids accordingly, and for the last 30 years or so all of these bad things have declined substantially.

In fact, things are substantially better than they were prior to the 60's. Racial tensions have eased substantially, women are more equal in the workplace, we don't have to put up with annoying Christian nonsense in public spaces and events... If all of this came out of the permissiveness of the '60's, and the end result is all that PLUS we have low levels of juvenile crime, pregnancy, etc., it's all good!