After several diaries here about iSinglePayer being rejected from Apple's app store, the app is now available for download according to the developer and clearly appears in the app store if you check iTunes.
A few things are probably worth noting here.
Apple runs a store. It's big, it's electronic, they have infinite shelf space, and they offer free products. iSinglePayer is a free app from an individual developer. It is the software equivalent of a diary here at Kos. Does it provide factual information? I don't know. Maybe. I'm sure Apple wishes it does, but they can hardly be in the business of checking, especially for something that they generate no income from.
Daily Kos has a number of features that allow the community to self-police what gets published here. Yesterday 177 diaries were published that were viewed by 8,000 individuals compared to Apple who received about 1200 applications for review by 40 individuals.
Now, I argued in the comments that this was unlikely to be censorship by Apple (remember the Obama app from the campaign?) and more likely a case that it was a mistake by Apple. Since the developer didn't indicate any changes to the app, that's likely the case. Apple rejects about 1500 apps per week for one reason or another. Developers don't always know why - or the reason for the rejection seems contradictory to other apps already published. That's certainly a problem with the app store review process, but that's all it is - not an insidious plot to censor progressive ideas - which is the conclusion WAY too many people jumped to.
But there's another thing here worth noting - and it's a blind spot this (and many other communities) have - we're quick to speak up when something seems amiss, and equally slow to speak up when something gets righted. I don't care one way or another about iSinglePayer. Information like that seems far better suited for a website than a static app that needs to be updated/approved/downloaded ever time something changes, but it's free, so who's to complain about someone's good effort? But I noticed there were several diaries condemning Apple based solely on the developers feedback - at least two of which were on the rec list - with no supporting information from any other source. Was this developer credible? Personally, I don't extend any credibility to the developer than I would any brand new diarist here. I reviewed the developers apps - and honestly, he's a bottom tier developer. One of his apps is PigFart - both in a free and paid version - yet another developer to jump on the iPhone fart marketplace. Realistically, I'd count him as an app spammer - reproducing simple existing apps with the hopes that they land on the right list and the money pour in. Maybe iSinglePayer is his first big mainstream app and we should certainly wish him well on that, but there's no reason to extend him any more credibility of Apple's behavior here than anyone else. He's no more an authority on Apple than you should assume that I am. I will note that he's a VASTLY more well known developer today than he was before this all happened, which is why most developers view drawing attention to rejections with an unsavory eye - anyone can get attention for being rejected. Orly Taitz might be the poster child for why that tactic is viewed unfavorably.
So, in short order it would appear that everything resolved properly. Apple wasn't the big, bad, progressive-hating monster that some made them out to be. They still have a fairly shitty app submission process, but that's hardly a secret to anyone. But after all the attention for the perceived wrong, I didn't see anything published here about how things really wound up. That's why I published this. So the next time an app gets rejected - iCleanEnergy, iGayMarriage, etc. maybe someone can point back to this diary and remind everyone that it happens, and that Apple, Palm, RIM, Amazon, whoever, isn't actually trying to shut us down, and that this is a better community when it embraces the kind of perspective that we reward in the best diarists here (which certainly doesn't include me).