"Explicit" Removed; Parental Control on iTunes

 

There were reports that Apple has added a new "Explicit" category in the iTunes Connect system for App Store submissions. Recently Apple removed as many as 5,000 titles from the App Store that it determined were inappropriate.
MacRumors speculated:

The reason for Apple's addition of the new category is unknown, although it seems possible that the company may have reconsidered its decision to remove the "overtly sexual" applications in the face of backlash from developers and users and has decided to create a dedicated category in an attempt to find a middle ground in the controversy. The use of a dedicated category for explicit material could supplement the age-rating system used for all App Store applications to easily make the entire category invisible to certain users using Parental Controls.

However, Gizmodo is now reporting that that the "Explicit" option is no longer appearing as a category option in iTunes Connect.
We are not sure why Apple left some apps like Playboy and Sports Illustrated Swim Suite app in the app store and removed the other. Phil Schiller, Apple's head of worldwide product marketing, told the New York Times that pressure had built on Apple due to "customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see." Regarding the objection that Sports Illustrated's mostly-naked models were allowed to remain, he retorted that the magazine's publisher "is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format." Which makes it a bit confusing.
Reports from some of the developers state the not all of them have the option of submitting apps to the Explicit category. It is unclear whether the “Explicit” category will come to iTunes Connect users, as is the reason for this change. There are speculations that the use  of such category could be used in conjunction with the age rating system on iTunes, and will allow users to control what their children can see though the Parental Control Setting.

Step by Step guide to setup Parental Control –

• To access these settings, select Edit+Preferences (WIN), and iTunes+Preferences (MAC) from the iTunes menu, and then click the Parental Control.
• Disable access to podcasts, internet radio or the iTunes Store completely. Note that you can keep iTunes U accessible while disabling the rest of the store. Additionally, you can deny access to shared libraries. Once turned off, these items won't appear in the left sidebar of the iTunes window.
• Apply the content ratings systems from one of several countries to your own machine. From there, you can apply more fine-grained content restrictions. For example, if you've opted to use the US's ratings system, you can limit access to movies that are rated G, PG, PG-13 or R. Television shows can be limited in the same way (TV-Y, TV-Y7, etc.).
• As for apps, there are four ratings, no matter which country's system you've selected: 4+, 9+, 12+ and 17+.
• If you want even tighter restriction, select "Restrict explicit content." This won't let users preview, purchase or subscribe to content in the store that's been marked as explicit by the content providers.
• Once you're done, click the lock to prevent further changes and provide your machine's administrator password (which hopefully your kid's don't know).

All of these changes must be set up for each user account giving them limited access. Also, changes made in iTunes will apply to a mobile device (iPod touch or iPhone) that's tied to that same limited account.