Bluetooth, AirDrop and such file-sharing services are crucial tools in China, where the so-called Great Firewall has resulted in one of the mostly tightly-controlled internet regimes. In recent years, anti-government protesters have often turned to AirDrop to organise and share their political demands. For instance, some activists were sharing anti-Xi Jinping posters using this tool on the Shanghai subway last October - just as the Chinese president was awaiting a historic third term as the country’s leader.
I hope Apple will take a stand against this, though I expect them to comply without too much protest. They’ve already been messing with iMessage and iCloud in China by the demands of the Chinese government so I expect they’ll be complying with this too.
How will they ever block Bluetooth, though? Disabling Apple’s special protocol can be done because they only need to pressure one single company, but Bluetooth has been built into every phone for decades. There’s no way they can hope to actually enforce these rules for an open standard like that.
Apple has repeatedly given in to Chinese government’s invasive policies, despite all their marketing on “privacy”; because China is a huge market for them. As much as I hate google for most of their practices, they have the basic decency to volunteeringly leave China when their regulations is against the company value.
China is a huge market for them
Yes, and don’t forget that Apple still depends on Chinese factories to assemble its iPhone devices.
Literally 0 sources anywhere and literally invokes 1984
Liberal propaganda is so fucking lazy. Y’all realize this is way closer to what 1984 was actually about right?
@Venus You may have missed some points when reading, so here are a few quotes.
The national internet regulator [Cyberspace Administration of China] on Tuesday launched a month-long public consultation on the proposals.
Proposals unveiled by the Cyberspace Administration of China on Tuesday …
Phone and app developers who want to continue operating in China will have to play by the new rules - or be culled from app stores, said a software engineer who wanted to stay anonymous.
(Emphasis mine.)
I agree with you in that it paves the way further to George Orwell’s 1984.
Just saying that someone said something is not citing a source. They taught us this in elementary school.
The source is the Chinese government, @kleinheld provided the link, everyone can easily verify that.
It’s a proposal by the literal government of China: http://www.cac.gov.cn/2023-06/06/c_1687698272954687.htm
Where in the article did you find that link?
@Venus The sources are clearly defined in the text, you can see that and find the link yourself if you are interested.
That’s just not how citing sources works lol
Oh, we have a genius here. The source, which is the Chinese government, and the way it is cited are both fine.
the way it is cited
The way that it isn’t cited*
It actually is cited, just read it.
