Parental Control glitch gives kids access to App Store porn

[nsane.forums]

iPhone OS 3.x brought us beefed-up parental controls, giving parents finer-grained control over what apps their kids could purchase based on four standard age ratings. A side effect of Apple's move to have apps rated by age level meant that apps with racier content—essentially soft-core porn—could be approved for sale if was rated 17+. Educator and developer Fraser Speirs has discovered, however, that access is only restricted for purchasing, not browsing in the App Store, which is a real problem in school environments. The glitch has become a huge headache for Speirs' school, which plans to roll out iPod touches to every one of its 100 students next fall.

Speirs is known for his work for Connected Flow, which makes FlickrExport for Mac and Darkslide for iPhone. During the day, however, Speirs works at Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock, Scotland, where he teaches computer courses and manages the school's IT. The small, independent school has just 100 students in primary and secondary grades combined. Unable to fund a one-to-one notebook program, the school was able to purchase each student an iPod touch to supplement the strained resources provided by its Mac-based computer lab.

View: Original Article