New Site Exposes How Apple Censors Apps in China (theintercept.com) 33
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.
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In what direction are they going?
Non-News? (Score:2, Informative)
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What I dont get is how VPN apps are meant to work? iOS has its own VPN connection tool right there in settings. In China, does that VPN option go away?
Anyone could spin up a micro instance in any AWS (or any other cloud) and VPN their way anywhere.
Maybe I am ill-informed, but I use that all the time when traveling internationally.
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No one is the bad guy here.
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These laws can be based on ...whatever the people in that society allow.
...whatever the people in the ruling political class allow. The bad guys here are obvious. That is what this discussion is ultimately about. Freedom of speech, and the total lack of it in China.
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"Freedom of speech," is in the American constitution.
China doesn't fall under that jurisdiction, right?
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Are there any bad guys [slashdot.org] here?
Apple Will Store Russian User Data Locally, Possibly Decrypt on Request: Report
Why are you so stupid? (Score:1, Funny)
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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.
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You can try. Physics is against you on that one - long-range radio communications are actually pretty easy to set up, but only if you are willing to accept poor reliability and pitiful bitrate. I can talk to Russia from the UK most days if I want to - at 31bps. That's bits per second. Not kilobits. Still, if you want to mess around with something more local, I've some pretty good designs and software for building a piratebox if you want it.
Re: Why are you so stupid? (Score:1)
Do you not understand that if these companies wanted, they could refuse to do business with China, forcing China to change its laws if it wanted that business's services?
If Western business refused to do anything with China until they resolved their human rights issues, then the Uighur genocide wouldn't be happening.
Instead, we, the rest of the world, seem to be perfectly ok with China rounding people up into concentration camps, as long as those people are Muslim.
Hail the almighty dollar.
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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.
Not all VPNs banned... (Score:2)
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 ser