As i type this, there's a rec list diary by Ozzie about Apple Censoring an iPhone App called iSinglePayer. To be upfront about my views, I'll tell you now that I don't like Apple's practice of censoring App's based on content (other than illegal or pornographic content) rather than function. If something is bugged or dangerous, of course I don't want Apple making it available on their App store.
Regardless of my views on content censoring, I don't think that's the real story here. My real issue with this is the hypocrisy of Apple's explanation for the censoring. They said that the iSinglePayer app was too political, but they allow other, far more political apps. Like a "Conservative Talking Points" app.
This is a screenshot of the app.

Not so bad maybe? Not so political? Okay. This is another screen shot of the App's description.

America's political civil war... The first shot over the Liberal Bow has been Fired!... Be armed with the Conservative Talking Points (CTP)iPhone app as your powerful aresenal to debate those emotional and ill-prepared liberals.
* My emphasis in bold.
The description gets worse, even more partisan and insulting towards liberals. Yet Apple allows this app be sold in it's store with this demeaning description, but iSinglePayer is too political? Well, I call bullshit. How can I construe the move to censor iSinglePayer as anything other than a viewpoint bias on the part of Apple when they allow this peice of crap into their store?
UPDATE: PBnJ has a good comment here showing how Apple has problems with the consistency of their rejections. It definitely could be the case here, that the guidelines Apple has set down for allowing content into their store aren't clear enough for their employees to determine what is acceptable for publishing. Even so, we should not allow them to do this. The only way this goes unanswered is if we allow it to go unanswered. I have a good relationship with an Apple rep as part of my job and I plan on telling him tomorrow about this and how disappointed I am. It won't stop me from purchasing things from them, because there is nothing I can do about that, I just buy whatever I'm told to, but I'm hoping the complaint gets filtered up the command chain.
Yet another UPDATE: I wanted to make it clear why I even care about this. So what if Apple doesn't want this app sold in their store? Well, they have a huge market and it seems as if that's not going to change anytime soon. Whether the reason for the rejection of certain apps is just bad guidelines for employees or whether it's a purposeful attempt to keep liberal leaning material from customers, it is a problem because of how many people use their services. In my opinion, if users can get something like CTP but not iSinglePayer, it is biased. Sort of like if a major bookseller would carry a new Rush Limbaugh book, but not a Michael Moore book. Even one book, even one app, can make a difference. So if they say they have a policy of keeping political apps oout of their store, then I think we should hold them to that and try to make them apply the rule EVENLY. That is all I want.
Another One: This is a phone number for Apple's customer service: 1-800-676-2775. I couldn't find an e-mail, but would be glad to put one in if someone has one.