Apple deters fart apps and racism by publishing App Store review guidelines

The App Store review process has long been the subject of speculation and ridicule, with developers and consumers alike frequently perplexed at various rejections and approvals.

In the week that it launched Game Center and relaxed restrictions on third-party development, Apple has moved to put an end to speculation by publishing its App Store Review Guidelines.

It's a charming document, which explains the logic of the process in terms we can all sympathise with ("we're keeping an eye out for the kids") and accommodates its controversial subjectivity:

"We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line," the author writes. "What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, “I’ll know it when I see it”. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it."

The full document is embedded below. It's entertaining throughout, with highlights inevitably in the Pornography; Personal Attacks; Violence; Religion, Culture, and Ethnicity; and Objectionable Content sections.

Read on to learn about why some mean-spiritedness is okay, video game baddies must be multi-cultural, and Chatroulette has no place in civilised society.