More Freedom Necessary as Top Developers Abandon iPhone

Apple’s ridiculous iPhone app approval process has hit a new low, with rejections for “ridiculing public figures” and using Apple’s own APIs to access Apple icons. These are just the latest reasons why the U.S. Copyright Office should approve EFF’s effort to legalize jailbreaking of the iPhone—customers and developers shouldn’t need Apple’s approval before using the software they want.

In a cautionary tale for both artists and developers, illustrator Tom Richmond blogged about Apple’s pointless rejection of “Bobble Rep,” a great civic-engagement app designed to help users connect with their senators and representatives. Using a ZIP code or the iPhone’s GPS, users can can get contact information for their members of Congress. But there’s style as well as substance to the app, as Richmond – a noted caricature artist – drew portraits of all 544 members of Congress, giving the app a neat, cartoony flavor. (For novelty’s sake, you can flick the lawmaker’s head to make it bobble.)

So why did Apple reject Bobble Rep?

…because it contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.14 from the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement which states: “Applications may be rejected if they contain content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.” [Emphasis added.]

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