Watchdog Says 53 VPN Apps Unavailable in Hong Kong Since Security Law Passed, Urges Apple To State Its Policy (hongkongfp.com) 22
Hong Kong Free Press: A total of 53 VPN applications have become unavailable in Apple's Hong Kong App Store since Beijing imposed a national security law (NSL) on the city in June 2020, a report by AppleCensorship has revealed. The digital freedom watchdog urged the US tech giant to clearly state how it would respond if Hong Kong or Beijing requested that apps be taken down.
In a report released on Thursday entitled "Apps at Risk: Apple's censorship and compromises in Hong Kong," AppleCensorship found that more apps were unavailable in Hong Kong's than in most of the 173 App Stores it monitored. According to AppleCensorship's latest statistics from last month, 2,370 or 16 per cent of the 14,782 apps it tested were unavailable in Hong Kong's App Store. The watchdog said only stores in Russia and China had more unavailable apps than their Hong Kong counterpart -- Russia had 2,754 and China had 10,837.
In a report released on Thursday entitled "Apps at Risk: Apple's censorship and compromises in Hong Kong," AppleCensorship found that more apps were unavailable in Hong Kong's than in most of the 173 App Stores it monitored. According to AppleCensorship's latest statistics from last month, 2,370 or 16 per cent of the 14,782 apps it tested were unavailable in Hong Kong's App Store. The watchdog said only stores in Russia and China had more unavailable apps than their Hong Kong counterpart -- Russia had 2,754 and China had 10,837.
apple just needs to add sideloading and then point (Score:2)
apple just needs to add sideloading and then point is moot
apple can say it's not in our store and also tell the EU and others that if an app does use our rules they can be side loaded just like mac os.
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I doubt that will happen. They've got too much to lose by antagonizing the CCP.
Maybe when they've moved more of their manufacturing out of China....
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the EU will force them to add side loading.
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the EU will force them to add side loading.
Unlike hardware changes, software changes can very easily be geofenced with little cost. Don't expect sideloading in the CCP irrespective of anything which happens in the west.
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the EU will force them to add side loading.
For them to add side loading in the EU? Sure. For them to add side loading in China? Doubt. This may come as a shock but Apple is fully capable of rolling out different features to different regions.
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It's not the manufacturing. The CCP doesn't care about features on export models. It's the Chinese market for iPhones that Apple doesn't want to give up.
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apple just needs to add sideloading ...
What do you mean by "Apple needs to"?
What would they gain as a company?
They have no interest in supporting democaracy in Hong Kong or anywhere else.
"I want Apple to X" and "Apple needs X" are not the same thing.
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What would they gain as a company?
There's a direct correlation between profit and being a good corporate citizen. Many things companies do look counterintuitive until you realise it raises their market share and their perception as a "good" company which provides a desirable premium product.
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@ thegarbz "There's a direct correlation between profit and being a good corporate citizen."
Are you daft by default or do you work at it?
"corporate citizen" is a retarded set of words created in a PR think tank for people like you.
Need an example? Meta or Google.
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Nah, Google gave up on that, and didn't make any bones about it either. They know they do evil, and they don't even try to hide it.
Re: apple just needs to add sideloading and then p (Score:2)
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apple just needs to add sideloading and then point is moot
Or people would just buy an Android phone.
iOS ecosystem is a walled garden. You trade freedom for convenience. Trying to do "freedom stuff" on an Apple phone just make no sense.
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Same shit as with porn. "I know it when I see it". So you better start self-censoring to err on the good side.
Apple's doing what Apple must to do business in HK (Score:2)
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If you do business in a foreign country, you have to abide by their laws
More generally, if you do business in any country you have to abide by their laws. Some US laws are problematic in other parts of the world, too. And all the multi-nationals have teams of lawyers whose responsibilities are to advise their companies as to what they must, can, and cannot do in each country to abide by local laws (and in some countries, to try to avoid having their employees arrested and sentenced to jail for violations of those laws). Those various country laws are sometimes in conflict wi
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Some US laws are problematic in other parts of the world, too.
I think the only US law that is universally problematic in every non US country is the first amendment. I'd be surprised if there is any country that hasn't demanded that Kiwi Farms, Encyclopediadramatica, or 8chan remove this or that content, only to get laughed at and have their email address and messages shared with the public.
Apple... (Score:2)
Apple policy (Score:2)
Apple's policy is simple (Score:2)
Apple and Tim Cook aren't your friends (Score:2)
Their agenda isn't all that different from the CCP's. It's much more likely they will work hand in glove with them than help the people of Hong Kong.