Oh fudge! A recent iPhone application designed to remotely control the Transmission BitTorrent client has been re-diddly-jected by the giant, disembodied, floating, translucent head that gate-keeps that good Apple App Store. The App Wizard told the meek little Midwestern developer (in a booming voice) that this type of application is often used to infringe copyrights and that Apple has therefore decided not to allow such software on the App store. Then a bunch of cool shock-and-awe pyrotechnics went off and shit.
The program in question, Drivetrain is an iPhone application used to remotely control the multi-platform Transmission BitTorrent client via an ordinary FM radio signal... I mean, the internet. According to its developer, Maza Digital, Drivetrain “provides all the details of the web interface in a native iPhone app that’s easy to use.” The corn-based developer submitted the old girl to Apple for approval way back in the halcyon days of April, and then also resubmitted ‘er after making a few small UI changes. But darned if they didn’t just receive an email in return saying that the review would take longer than expected, which was then followed up by a second email in which the Wizard rejected the application for inclusion in the App Store, telling Maza Digital, “we’ve reviewed Drivetrain and determined that we cannot post this version of your application to the App Store at this time because this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store.” Then he revved-up the fog machines some more.
“By now I am very disillusioned with the whole App Store process," Maza Digital told the website TorrentFreak in a torrential response, citing the old adage that people infringe copyright, not software. “We] find it rather ridiculous that they have rejected an app that does not do anything that may be ‘often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights,’” they added. Of course, all BitTorrent clients are absolutely legal, and yes, Drivetrain is just an application to control a torrent client (and as such goes absolutely nowhere near any copyright infringing material); but nevertheless, the Wizard of Apple has still decided that everything BitTorrent-related is a no go for the App Store for the time being. Time for Plan B, Maza Digital: call [Billy Mays.
