It was bad enough that Apple was shutting down tools used by Chinese dissidents without even a murmur of complaint. But now they’re bowing to Vladimir Putin’s Russia as well?
We all know that Russia goes after dissidents worldwide. In a tradition going back to the murder of Leon Trotsky, they will go after you wherever you are. Witness the repeated murders abroad, including a well-known poisoning of Nikolai Glushkov just this year.
That brings us to Telegram, a mobile communications app by Pavel Durov, a Russian expat living in the United Kingdom. His first venture, the social network VK, was taken over by Putin’s cronies after he refused to cooperate in government spying. At that time he left the country.
He now runs Telegram, and the Russians are after Telegram, seeking it shut down entirely in Russia. But there’s more: According to Durov, Apple is blocking app updates worldwide:
I’ve really been beating the drum that Apple is caving to dictators even as they fight free governments. But this is the most egregious example yet.
If Tim Cook really wants Apple to stand for freedom and privacy, he has a lot to answer for.
We pointed out last week that Apple is selective in standing up to governments. Now they’re trying to distract you from that with a meaningless announcement.
Yes, they will cave to China at will even as they make a show of standing up to the United States government. So the dissidents most in need of support, are the ones they will ignore.
But now they’re going to be transparent about it. Really, is that supposed to help? Deleting any app the Chinese government demands they delete, but they’ll admit it. That’s not the problem, and it won’t help anyone for them to do it.
The Communists aren’t going to be embarrassed out of oppression. They’ve been doing it for decades, and their present Leader shows signs of seeking ever more power for himself. This will do nothing to protect anyone, except protect Apple from folks this announcement will distract.
Don’t be distracted. Apple is putting profit ahead of people, by seeking to make money under the oppressive, murderous, anti-LGBT Chinese regime, even as it postures against the United States government, and those of US states.
Tim Cook must be exposed as the fake he is.
In the United States, Apple makes a big show of defying the government, by giving citizens tools to assert our right to privacy. In China, Apple is actively collaborating with the government against the people.
Tim Cook’s statements explaining his willingness to oppose the government were strong, to:
The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers. The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.
But Cook has gotten quiet when it comes to the mass crackdown in China:
Recently, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) requested that CallKit functionality be deactivated in all apps available on the China App Store.
During our review, we found that your app currently includes Callkit functionality and has China listed as an available territory in iTunes Connect.
This app cannot be approved with CallKit functionality active in China.
So Apple will comply with any request made by the Chinese government. So much for caring about making the users less safe!
When I get confirmed numbers on reapportionment I will prepare an update of the Electoral College Swingometer with the new Electoral College.
It is likely I will also take the opportunity to update Swingometer on iOS to look nicer on higher resolution displays such as those on the iPhone 4 and the iPad.
It’s here, and it’s only $0.99 in the App Store℠! It’s Swingometer for iPhone® and iPod Touch®! Now there’s an optimized interface for the small screen, when the web version just isn’t handy enough!
Am I excited? You bet!
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I just completed the submission process for the iPhone® and iPod Touch® Swingometer app. I suppose it should run on the iPad™ but not having one, that’s still a gray area for me. Hopefully the review process is kind and the app will be in the App Store℠ soon.
The Swingometer app will cost $0.99 in the US, and similar amounts in other countries.
There are number of tools that go into the production of Unlikely Voter now and going forward. In the interests of allowing skeptical observers the ability to try to reproduce my work, I will share them with you. Not that I’m going to give away the store, but I’m ready to give strong and clear hints.
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House of Representatives Swingometer
Electoral College Swingometer