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New Site Exposes How Apple Censors Apps in China (theintercept.com)
A new website exposes the extent to which Apple cooperates with Chinese government internet censorship, blocking access to Western news sources, information about human rights and religious freedoms, and privacy-enhancing apps that would circumvent the country's pervasive online surveillance regime. The Intercept: The new site, AppleCensorship.com , allows users to check which apps are not accessible to people in China through Apple's app store, indicating those that have been banned. It was created by researchers at GreatFire.org, an organization that monitors Chinese government internet censorship. In late 2017, Apple admitted to U.S. senators that it had removed from its app store in China more than 600 "virtual private network" apps that allow users to evade censorship and online spying. But the company never disclosed which specific apps it removed -- nor did it reveal other services it had pulled from its app store at the behest of China's authoritarian government.
This seems to be the price any company pays for doing business in China. How is this news?
One always has the choice to stick with principles and _not_ do business in a nation when required to directly assist them in actions that go against those (significant, critical) principles in order to do so. Likewise, us knowing about this allows us to decide not to support said company as well.
In what direction are they going?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
the only way that would be feasible is if it were an international law and the entire world boycotted china as a market for those products. otherwise, a company boycotting china is just giving a market of 1 billion people to their competitors.
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
Typing VPN into the form discloses that 'Lantern VPN' by Beijing Qimengjialu Technology Co., Ltd is NOT banned. Every other VPN is either banned or unavailable. Good way to test which apps/companies are direct extensions (or an integral arm) of the Chinese Government, although anyone doing business there (including Apple) is directly serving the government.
Apple, for example, provides unfettered access to their datacenters (phones, images, uploaded FaceID, messages, Geo Location, etc). They are probably serving the government much more than Beijing Qimengjialu Technology Co.