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China Lauds iPhone App That Spreads Gov't Views
angry tapir writes "China's film and TV regulator has praised the growth of an iPhone application from state broadcaster CCTV as the country looks for new ways to project its political views abroad. The free iPhone app, one of a growing number from Chinese state-owned news outlets, has gained 500,000 users in the month or so since it went online and is adding 2,000 new users each day, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said in a statement on its Web site. The CCTV app has shown 'favorable performance' and proven especially popular during broadcasts of major events, such as a high-flown military parade held in Beijing last month, the statement said."
Want to keep your citizens in line, with false statements and a warped view of the world? There's an App for that.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Want to keep your citizens in line, with false statements and a warped view of the world? There's an App for that.
Yes, we've seen that before. Important "news" from our Dear Leader!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There's an app for that!
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
"The UK's Heritage Minister has praised the growth of the iPlayer application from state broadcaster BBC as the Trust looks for new ways to project its political views. The free flash video streaming, one of a growing number from British state-owned news outlets, has gained 500,000 users in the month or so since it went online and is adding 2,000 new users each day, the BBC Trust said in a statement on its Web site. The iPlayer app has shown 'favorable performance' and proven especially popular during broadcasts of major events, such as a recent royal funeral, the statement said."
But I guess "Chinese government streams television network to iPhones" wouldn't be nearly as fetching.
...And nothing of value was gained?
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
I thought people were in agreement that Chinese iPhone sales were dismal?
No smoking sigs indoors.
And this app was approved by Apple?
I applaud Apple for releasing it. If Apple rejected it just because they don't like what its content, that would be censure and they would be no better that the Chinese government.
"The government statement also said promotion of the CCTV app on Apple's Web site in China was helpful for its user growth. The Apple site includes the CCTV and China Daily products on a list of recommended apps. "
A red Apple, a hammer and a sickle...why do they operate in groups of three? One can read, one can write and one to keep an eye on the two intellectuals.
Yeah, right. Next you're going to tell me that NPR isn't part of a vast left-wing conspiracy controlled by Barack Obama and Big Bird! (Big Bird is a euphemism for Bill Clinton.)
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
So Apple has rejected apps that are "political" (an app about the cost of health care, for one), but they're fine with a Chinese government propaganda app?
"Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people. With one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!"
...now delivered to millions on an iPhone.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
And this app was approved by Apple?
I applaud Apple for releasing it. If Apple rejected it just because they don't like what its content, that would be censure and they would be no better that the Chinese government.
Wait, are we talking about the same Apple that censors everything else that goes on the iphone just because they don't like its content?
Not sure why anyone would be shocked by this.
From Here
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
That's what Monica called Bill, anyway.
China has several iphones clones that appear to now run the same apps. So, shortly sales of iphone clones will overwhelm iphones sales with the gov. approval.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Apple products are made in China. I'm not sure how much more help they can give. Oh wait, I know. They can help distribute Chinese government propaganda. Something MS doesn't even do, as far as I know.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/09/apple-denied-health-care-app-for-political-reasons-developer-says/ Too late for that idea...
that they are getting 2000 new subscribers a day...because they are forced to.
I suppose they could also claim that millions are becoming communists too (birth rate, you know).
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
Hasn't Apple blocked apps for political reasons? Shouldn't this app be blocked then? Honestly, I'm surprised that it wasn't required to be included on the device.
One never knows when one might need a rotten tomato... - King's Quest IV: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
You have to realise a few things. For one, even though it is biased coverage (just like every American news channel) China has every right to make an iPhone app just like the BBC has every right too also. And for the record, Microsoft did make an iPhone app called Seadragon that let you view and scale large images. And while there were a few jokes it wasn't called propaganda and even embrace extend extinguish wasn't even brought up much.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!
So, Apple doesn't have a problem with government propaganda, as long as it does not show a bare breast or include a four-letter word.
Good to know their priorities are in order.
You are welcome on my lawn.
And Apple decides that access to Chinese markets is more important than the human rights of the Chinese.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Will have to look this one up when I get home. I enjoy CCTV9, and its, um, interesting take on international events. Plus, I just get tickled watching any international commercials! And their learn chinese language shows are actually pretty good.
...that the name of the Chinese broadcaster is the same as that of the UK surveillance camera network?
That's a fitting new association, isn't it? ^^
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
are we talking about the same Apple that censors everything else that goes on the iphone just because they don't like its content?
All the more reasons to applaud when they do NOT censure.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/09/apple-denied-health-care-app-for-political-reasons-developer-says/ Too late for that idea...
Just because they did censure another app, doesn't mean we shouldn't congratulate them when they do NOT censure. Quite the contrary.
TIPS sent data to law enforcement
Flag@WhiteHouse.Gov sent data to the President directly (or basically a group he controls).
You figure out for yourself which is more concerning. That law enforcement is being sent data about potential security issues, or that citizens are being reported for not properly adhering to NewSpeak.
Scenario to work through: News report that disagrees with presidents report on stimulus numbers. You report to TIPS - nothing happens. But you can and were supposed to report to FLAG as "inaccurate"....
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Wow. I remember Yahoo, Google and others getting flak from /. crowd for 'succumbing' to the chinese govt pressure and 'censuring' information. But here, Apple goes a step ahead and actually promotes Chinese propaganda and it's kudos to Apple??
First, I'm not responsible for what others people, being member of /. crowd or not, do or say. I'm happy to have my own opinions.
Second, propaganda is not censure. Yahoo and Google were flaked because they did the latter. They limited their content to what the Chinese government approved. Apple doesn't prevent people from getting other content, including CCTV. So the shame should be on the /. crowd to think it's OK for Apple to censure China but it's not OK when China censure other countries.
Way to go, fanbois, way to go.
Right, just because I agreed with them, I'm a fanboy. Way to go, yourself.
As a matter of fact, I dislike Apple in general because they do censure and control too much. And that's also why I'm glad the rare times they don't.
In the interest of objectivity, there's one important detail that hasn't really been brought up yet in this discussion: CCTV doesn't have a monopoly over Chinese television. In most Chinese TV markets, their total audience share (for all of their channels combined) is about 45%.
Make no mistake. CCTV is, in fact, the official TV network of the Chinese Communist Party, directly accountable to its ministry of propaganda, but it has to earn its market share the same way other commercial channels do -- by making popular TV shows. The difference is, where other channels might get creative with product placement (ie, someone on a sitcom ordering a pizza from Dominos, or drinking Pepsi Max), they do it with party ideology. Chinese viewers who hate the CCP don't watch CCTV, or watch shows and play drinking games (a soldier expressed his love for the country? Do a shot of vodka...) whenever they see something stupid and overt. Chinese viewers who are loyal & enthusiastic CCP members watch the shows, and act like elderly Americans watching "Little House on the Prairie". The other 85% or so of Chinese viewers just regard them as a bunch of channels they get from the satellite or cable company, and view them about the same way Americans see PBS, "family-oriented" channels (retch, vomit, gag), Fox, MSNBC, and Lifetime. The channels are there, to watch or ignore. The only real advantage they have over their commercial competitors is the fact that every basic cable TV package in China MUST include them, so if you're poor, they probably ARE your entire TV package. On the other hand, if you're *that* poor, you're not likely to own an iPhone... genuine, counterfeit, or otherwise.
From a strictly business standpoint, Apple would have been stupid to say 'no' to the app. For one thing, in China, most of the elite & wealthy *are* CCP members. They might privately think Mao was full of shit, but on the other hand, they're internalized the party's beliefs to some extent whether they believe it or not. They DO watch CCTV, and would have been pissed/outraged if Apple had said 'no'. The REAL thing to watch for is whether or not Apple approves similar apps for CCTV's competitors, or throws out some lame excuse like "there's already an app in the store that does it".
So we should instead simply let them live their lives without technology that can liberate them? Look at Cuba compared to divided Germany. Pretty much most of the free world blocked Cuba, so because of this Cubans have lived their lives under a dictatorship and not known much of freedom. China on the other hand will eventually break free of their current government whenever their government fails and problems arise because unlike Cuba, North Korea, and other countries China has many people who travel abroad, who are scholarly and are free-thinking. Why isn't there a revolution in China currently? Things in China are steadily improving to the point that the Chinese don't feel a need for a different government plan. When their government fails though, expect a revolution. Just like in Europe 20 years ago and Soviet Russia.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
They're only doing this for the money, so it's not really something to applaud. Do you think the Chinese government allowed this to happen because they didn't want it to happen? This was intentional, and it's obvious people got paid to make it happen.
They're only doing this for the money, so it's not really something to applaud. Do you think the Chinese government allowed this to happen because they didn't want it to happen? This was intentional, and it's obvious people got paid to make it happen.
What ever the "why", they did the right thing by not censoring the app. I applaud that.
If they did it for the wrong reasons (very likely), then next time they may do the wrong thing (again). Then I'll boo them (and I'm sure it will happen sooner than later).
Wait, are we talking about the same Apple that censors everything else that goes on the iphone just because they don't like its content?
Yes, this is the only App available for the iPhone, because Apple has censored every single other application in the world.
All the more reasons to applaud when they do NOT censure.
Yes, just as we should we applaud people for not stabbing us, or shooting us, or kicking people in the head.
FTFA:
"In 1984, the iconic American company ran a popular commercial for its new Macintosh computers that said the machines would show users "why 1984 won't be like '1984,' " a reference to the George Orwell book about a society ruled by a mind-controlling regime. "
Wow. Talk about shooting one's self in the foot..... But then again, what do you expect from a company that strives to maintain COMPLETE control of their products?
So where are the Apple Fanbois on this one?
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Are you trolling, or just being ignorant? If Apple censors one kind of political propaganda, but accepts other kinds, the accepting others makes things WORSE, not better. You see, if they deny all political content, fine, they just want to be un-political. If they want to decide which propaganda is OK (or if they're getting paid to accept certain propaganda), that's the worst kind of censorship. And we should congratulate them for this?
Disproving of content is a big thing for Apple, apparently. NIN app rejected due to profanity, even though song is available on iTunes unedited
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
The underlying assumption here is that viewers of the world are so brainless that even the slightest exposure to CCTV will turn them into slack-jawed commie zombies. I've downloaded the app and anticipate that it will prove quite useful for a number of reasons:
1. Local conflicts that don't make the international news. Often within China the national media are seen as "liberal" in the sense of less beholden to local, partisan interests. As a result CCTV frequently has journalistic exposes of shocking illegality out in the provinces: workers unpaid for years at a time due to venality, shoddy construction practices, rank corruption, etc. Not unlike the CNBC talking about exotic minor financial crimes unearthed by the SEC, while the kingpins of Wall Street crime are never mentioned, CCTC will only rarely expose problems in the major organs of power, but what they do talk about can make for riveting TV.
2. Coverage during crises such as the Tibet and Sinjiang rebellions as well as natural disasters. By the imperative to fill the time available, the images, information, interviews etc. presented can be revealing as much for what isn't being seen as for what is.
3. Coverage of the outside world. How China perceives flaws in the U.S. financial system, their annual report on human rights abuses in the U.S., their extensive coverage of African affairs all adds balance to what isn't normally seen in the U.S.
In short, we're all adults, capable of parsing media on a number of levels. This is an excellent addition to the iphone.
How many points do I score for guessing that the majority of this howling chorus have never even watched as much as 1 second of CCTV's programs? This is just some idiots that - once again - want to whip up some anti-Chinese sentiment, to prevent bad things from happening in case people start thinking on their own. I mean, that is how the people of America have been conned for decades, and why your education system is constantly under threat from "religious" groups; that is why Americans automatically think that "free market" must be good - despite all the Enrons and the current recession, which were the direct results of deregulation.
Wake up and think your own thoughts, for God's sake; it won't turn you into a Communist overnight. Just don't be a sheep (or a cow - why do you think they called GWB a cowboy?)
I can't agree on that one. If they're censoring then on principle that's bad as a whole.
However if they're being selective about it and STILL allowing the political propaganda of the world's worst human rights violators yet turning things down like Google Voice or an NES Emulator, then I cry foul.
They shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but if you're going to do it at least do it right. Kinda like a benevolent dictator. I don't want a dictator in the first place - regardless of intentions, but you can be darned sure I'll bitch a lot louder if they're an asshole rather than a nice guy with a lot of power.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Free Tibet App: $99
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Are you trolling, or just being ignorant? If Apple censors one kind of political propaganda, but accepts other kinds, the accepting others makes things WORSE, not better.
To me, it makes rejecting others kinds more unacceptable. But accepting is always a good thing.
If one was to follow your principle and rejected a propaganda once and he would never be able to accept any propaganda ever after and would never be able to mend his way.
If they want to decide which propaganda is OK (or if they're getting paid to accept certain propaganda), that's the worst kind of censorship.
I agree with that. But the "worst" is in the rejection of the other propaganda, not in the acceptation of some.
So they should be congratulated for accepting CCTV. But next time they reject an app on the ground that it's propaganda, then we should howler more loudly than ever before.
Funny thing about China right now, is that in order to run a business in China, you must have a Chinse partner working with you. To which, the Chinese have big plans for foreigners looking for cheap labor (NSFW website! though story is very important!)
The question now is, do we still want to manufacture in china, if the Chinese government wants to force foreign companies (i.e. Motorola, Nokia, Sony, etc.) to hand over their Intellectual Property to the Chinese government?
Personally, I don't see why we should outsource goods to China when we can manufacture them here in the United States or at very least Mexico.
The chinese could very well install these programs on goods exported from China or posted in the App Store and Android Market.
Now would be a good time to bring manufacturing back to America especially with the 10.2% unemployment rate and China's intentions.
Of course, Apple won't do that. Apple would rather continue to manufacture a device that has be under lock and key so badly, people have died because someone lost the phone or some other moral implications. (Imagine if HTC or Motorola had this problem, their would be one hell of a controversy!)
But as long as Apple continues to appease the Chinese with a steady revenue from a device that despite being so popular is really becoming a social control, the status quo will prevail...more so since they sell iPhones at places like Walmart.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.