Apple To Resist India Order To Preload State-Run App As Political Outcry Builds (reuters.com) 55
Apple does not plan to comply with India's mandate to preload its smartphones with a state-owned cyber safety app that cannot be disabled. According to Reuters, the order "sparked surveillance concerns and a political uproar" after it was revealed on Monday. From the report: In the wake of the criticism, India's telecom minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Tuesday said the app was a "voluntary and democratic system," adding that users can choose to activate it and can "easily delete it from their phone at any time." At present, the app can be deleted by users. Scindia did not comment on or clarify the November 28 confidential directive that ordered smartphone makers to start preloading it and ensure "its functionalities are not disabled or restricted."
Apple however does not plan to comply with the directive and will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company's iOS ecosystem, said two of the industry sources who are familiar with Apple's concerns. They declined to be named publicly as the company's strategy is private. "Its not only like taking a sledgehammer, this is like a double-barrel gun," said the first source.
Apple however does not plan to comply with the directive and will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company's iOS ecosystem, said two of the industry sources who are familiar with Apple's concerns. They declined to be named publicly as the company's strategy is private. "Its not only like taking a sledgehammer, this is like a double-barrel gun," said the first source.
If you want to do business (Score:3)
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Particularly the "move all production out of the country" part, which accounts for 20% of Apple's total production (and it's growing), and $20 billion worth of iPhones (85% of which is exported).
End users will put a lot of pressure on the government if they can't get iPhones. The economic loss will put more.
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Re:If you want to do business (Score:4, Funny)
Cheaper to just pay the bribes.
In America it's known as K-street. Or "donating" to an Inauguration Gala. Or hosting a high court judge in a European palace for a couple of weeks. Or giving decision makers absurd private sector salaries when they 'retire'. Or giving the Governor's wife a $200K no-show job. Pick your branch, there's a way.
In India the system is less formal.
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Sure and Apple as a foreign company can pack up, stop selling products in India and move all production out of the country.
Yes, like Google did in China.
Re: If you want to do business (Score:2)
Re:If you want to do business (Score:4, Interesting)
I generally agree with this. But I dont think apple is saying they will break the law, but rather that they'd just wIthdraw from the market if forced, which has been their approach in the past.
Plus, while india is a big market, apples 10% of it probably isnt a huge segment of apples revenue, and they have the warchest to just sit it out until Gen Zs flip out hard enough to force the govt to back off.
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But I dont think apple is saying they will break the law, but rather that they'd just wIthdraw from the market if forced, which has been their approach in the past.
Has it? They still operate in China, and Chinese law requires them to cooperate with the government, store Chinese user's cloud data in-country, and more.
Meanwhile Google did actually decide not to enter the Chinese market. Maybe you are getting them confused.
That's a bit simplistic (Score:2)
A company (foreign or domestic) can, if they are large enough, apply political, economic, and social pressure on a nation in order to have their own way. This is how it works in the US, and how it works in most of the rest of the world, for better or worse.
In addition, compliance can also be done in a malicious way. To the letter of the law, but ultimately ineffective. And remember that for a business like Apple, every delay and every threat is a negotiation tactic. They've always operated this way, not ju
Apple does not preload apps (Score:4, Funny)
Only mediocre U2 albums.
Re: Apple does not preload apps (Score:3)
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Bono peaked with the Joshua Tree in 1987 but free is free, I didn't see the controversy at the time.
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Bono peaked with the Joshua Tree in 1987 but free is free, I didn't see the controversy at the time.
It was a U2 album force-crammed onto my devices. It wasn't controversial. It was adversarial./p.
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Having a U2 album you need to delete is not the worst thing you will face in life. Imagine a world where your boss gave you a free ticket to his daughter's violin recital. It's a "free" ticket, but man there are so many strings attached. And your time isn't free but it's also nice to have a paying job.
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Having a U2 album you need to delete is not the worst thing you will face in life. Imagine a world where your boss gave you a free ticket to his daughter's violin recital. It's a "free" ticket, but man there are so many strings attached. And your time isn't free but it's also nice to have a paying job.
It's an accumulative thing. Having a free U2 album shoveled into your bits may be viewed as a minor offense, depending on how much you despise U2, but life is filled with minor offenses, and all Apple had to do to avoid causing yet another was simply *offer* the album for free, rather than force-loading it automatically.
Re: Apple does not preload apps (Score:2)
Apple has long treated thier own customers with a certain level of disrespect. It is the way of luxury brands, to question if you're good enough to deserve their products.
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That wasn't preloaded. Apple just added it to everyone's account back then.
It only got loaded because you sync your phone or iPod and because it was new, it automatically transferred over.
Last time I got a new phone, the very first time I opened the App Store it asked if I wanted to load on a bunch of apps as they were included but not pre-loaded. The last time Apple was asked to pre-load apps, that's what they did - they waited until the user clicked on App Store then presented them
The next couple of years (Score:3)
The next couple of years are going to be hellish nightmares, from the looks of it.
EU trying to outdo dictatorships in privacy invasions, India pushing gov spyware onto your phone, online privacy and anonymity being undermined and erased everywhere⦠it is a very sad thought that most human generations will not get to experience the internet of the 80s, 90s, 00s and a bit of the 10s, when it was the most unbelievably awesome thing humanity has ever seen.
Now quickly followed by becoming the most dystopian nightmare.
Re:The next couple of years (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, its amazing how they turned something so positive into something so bad.
What really sucks is that those young people will grow up and never realize it could be different, and it actually was.
Re:The next couple of years (Score:4)
Careful with those sepia-tinted glasses. Revisionist history is addicting.
Until the early 90s, the Internet was impenetrable for the non-technical. Telnet, gopher, etc... downloading your first nekkid picture in 160x100 and 256 colors usually meant learning uudecode. After that, the merry ground of usability jokes continued for a decade. From the terrible interfaces of Compuserve and AOL, to EA insisting on a 2MB splash screen through 14.4k modems, to shockwave everything... pop up cascades that could take down your system... And the worst of humanity were established online before Mosaic was a thing. The ancient corners of alt.binaries were the dark web of the late 80s.
And by the time the usability of the Internet crested the hill, the dystopia was already under way. Facebook and Google were already building the evil future in the early 2000s. They weren't first... but they helped industrialize it. The internet was the least tracked when it was the least useful.
I don't think that utopia ever existed. Exploiters have coexisted with providers the whole time.
telnet, gopher, uudecode (Score:2)
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Yes indeed, would vote you up, but have already commented here.
US I think is the only place with enshrined freedom of speech into the Constitution and still pressure is mounting - and I do not single out any side here.
EU is as usual "protecting" and the UK full speed ahead into "V for Vendetta" in order not to "offend".
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It's not only one side, that is why I watch "by definition" both sides of the story to make up my mind - the problem is that the media are subjected to the sponsored propaganda, but the good side is that the US still has both sides of the story, EU not so much.
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You’ve only described one half of the coin (and not very accurately in my view). The other side is the flip side, under which there are huge quantities of CSAM, suicide being promoted, scams and hustles of every kind tricking or coercing the vulnerable into giving up their savings, and of course endless torrents of the vilest abuse directed towards lots and lots of people of various types. The problems of the internet absolutely do include people saying things that would not be legal if said in any ot
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Yes, you're right - there is the other side of the "internet coin", but I think the issues you mentioned should be addressed by parents and education not censorship, at least the rules have to be crisp and not depending on interpretation.
Until late 80s, "Arpa/Internet" was restricted (Score:1)
Until the late 1980s/early 1990s, the "Internet" - IPv4 - was pretty much restricted in the United States to universities, the government, and to companies doing work with the government. Your average Joe Citizen couldn't get access without becoming a student or getting a job from one of the companies with access.
Advertising and all that advertising pays for would come later.
Someone else already covered the fact that the pre-web internet was pretty inaccessible (in the "too much technical mumbo-jumbo" sens
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Re: The next couple of years (Score:1, Insightful)
Let's not forget The EU's support for genocidal nutbags - this could be a new growth area given that people are awakening and are less ready to believe government propaganda or outright lies.
Re: The next couple of years (Score:2)
I think that writers of dystopian novels should take the hint that governments are tone-deaf when it comes to warnings of how bad things could get - instead seeing every prediction of bad things as an implementation manual.
Re: The next couple of years (Score:2)
Re: The next couple of years (Score:1)
I'd be interested to see if writers could put their energies into imagining the best possible futures, would governments implement the changes needed to converge on these.
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EU trying to outdo dictatorships in privacy invasions
Never go full hyperbole man. If you want to make a point then make the point. The direction the EU is going is bad, but when you equate it to dictatorships your otherwise valid complaint starts to lose credibility and look like ignorant biased drivel.
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The GP doesn't say that the EU is a dictatorship.
I never said the GP did. A wise man once wrote on the internet something relevant for you, I'll quote it for you here: "Learn to read fucking dumbass"
Piece of shit.
Get some professional help buddy. You need it. Before you hurt yourself.
\o/ (Score:1, Insightful)
Apple should do it but only if the Indian government agrees to allow Apple to introduce arbitrary (*) legislation into the Indian political system that contains potentially-secret clauses.
After all, politics and smartphone operating systems are general skills
(*) from India's perspective - at least legislation which Apple thinks it's best but may not overlap - at all - with India's plans for the country.
What about Russia (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple however does not plan to comply with the directive and will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world..."
I was under the impression Apple has to pre-install the Russian MAX messaging app [reuters.com] on all mobile phones and tablets in Russia as of this past September.
Re:What about Russia (Score:4, Informative)
Apple has not sold directly in Russia since 2022. There are parallel imports but no direct sales.
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Apple isn't pre-installing anything in Russia, not even their own OS because they do not sell iPhones in Russia nor do they have business there. They pulled out of the market in March 2022.
Now if someone buys an overseas iPhone and resells it in Russia that person would have to preinstall the app before selling it. And the MAX app technically doesn't breach any App Store rules so it is actually available to install.
That's pretty rich (Score:2)
If people in a region want an app, they should have the choice to install it or not. They also shouldn't have hidden spyware preloaded on their phones either to tattle metadata and content to megacorps and government(s).
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Apple already preloads hidden carrier/government spy crapware but
Citation Needed. I mean if what you say was true why are the TLAs constantly suing and fighting with Apple rather than simply flipping their hidden privacy invasion switch?
Or does your conspiracy run so deep that the government and Apple run a perpetual legal battle rather than simply admit what you already know to be true?
You CAN delete or disable it, that's confirmed (Score:1)
You can delete or disable it as you want, that was confirmed by government the same day.
It's only useful for the rural masses and elderly or uneducated which is like 200 - 300 Mn smartphone users (out of 700 Mn total smartphone users) due to a deluge of completely bat shit crazy unbelievable cyber frauds - for eg 1000s of people defrauded every day by digital arrest fraud where someone in a police uniform video calls and manages to convince them they are under arrest virtually/digitally and should remain co