Does upgrading to iOS 4.2 reset the Parent Control password?

Question

A month or two ago, I updated my son's iPod Touch 3G from version 4.1 to version 4.2 via my computer (not his).
Sometime later, I discovered that my son had set the Parent Control password to something completely different, and all of the parent controls had been turned off.
My son claims that the update had reset the password, and he set it to a different password, which he did give to me when I discovered the change. (I won't go into his excuse for setting a new password.)
I am suspicious. I have not found any evidence on the web of parent controls being reset by an upgrade, and I think it would be poor design to have an upgrade reset the parent control password.
So, if you upgrade an iPod Touch on a computer which is not its primary computer, does the password and parent control settings get reset?
Further info:
When upgrading his iPod Touch, I did not sync it to my computer. After the upgrade, all his settings (Mail, apps, etc.) were still working. I have my own iPod Touch that I do sync to my computer, and it has no parent control settings enabled, nor a parental control password. I keep my iPod Touch at version 3.1.3, for development purposes. I'm running 10.6.5, iTunes 10.
Please answer only if you know (e.g., you've tested this) or if you have a conjecture as to why this might indeed happen. I'm not in the mood for any parenting lessons.
Thanks!
Henry

Answer 1

You are absolutely correct. A simply update to the latest version of iOS will not restore the device to factory settings. If you did the update yourself, at the end of the installation you would have been presented with an option to restore from backup or setup as a new device. Of course you would have chosen to restore from backup because you say that all email and apps were exactly as before. The restrictions are carried over exactly as before when you restore from backup, including the restrictions passcode and any settings you had selected.
The only conclusion (if the sequence above is correct) that can be made is that someone intentionally restored the device to factory settings after the upgrade and then setup a new restrictions passcode.
Having said that, these statements in your description are contradicting each other:
- I updated my son's iPod Touch 3G from version 4.1 to version 4.2 via my computer (not his).
- When upgrading his iPod Touch, I did not sync it to my computer
How exactly the upgrade happened could tell you if you made a simple mistake or if he or someone else intentionally restored the device.