From @nytimes: A rare insight into how @Apple has made compromises with #Beijing in order to do businesses in #China. "They offer an extensive inside look at how Apple has given in to escalating demands from the Chinese authorities." nytimes.com/2021/05/17/tec…
"@tim_cook, Apple’s chief executive, has said the data is safe. But at the data center in Guiyang, which Apple hoped would be completed by next month, and another in the Inner Mongolia region, Apple has largely ceded control to the Chinese government."
"Chinese state employees physically manage the computers. Apple abandoned the encryption technology it used elsewhere after China would not allow it. And the digital keys that unlock information on those computers are stored in the data centers they’re meant to secure."
"China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is increasing his demands on Western companies, and Mr. Cook has resisted those demands on a number of occasions. But he ultimately approved the plans to store customer data on Chinese servers and to aggressively censor apps."
“Apple has become a cog in the censorship machine that presents a government-controlled version of the internet,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Asia director for Amnesty International, the human rights group.
“If you look at the behavior of the Chinese government, you don’t see any resistance from Apple — no history of standing up for the principles that Apple claims to be so attached to.”
"Behind the scenes, Apple has constructed a bureaucracy that has become a powerful tool in China’s vast censorship operation. It proactively censors its Chinese App Store, ...
... relying on software and employees to flag and block apps that Apple managers worry could run afoul of Chinese officials, according to interviews and court documents."
"A Times analysis found that tens of thousands of apps have disappeared from Apple’s Chinese App Store over the past several years, more than previously known, including foreign news outlets, gay dating services and encrypted messaging apps.
It also blocked tools for organizing pro-democracy protests and skirting internet restrictions, as well as apps about the Dalai Lama."
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