Activists Angry After Apple Axes Anti-Firewall App 196
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "BBC reports that Chinese web users are criticizing Apple after the company pulled a free iPhone app called OpenDoor, which enables users to bypass firewalls and access restricted internet sites. The developers of OpenDoor — who wish to remain anonymous — told Radio Netherlands that Apple removed the app because it 'includes content that is illegal in China.' 'It is unclear to us how a simple browser app could include illegal contents, since it's the user's own choosing of what websites to view,' say the developers. 'Using the same definition, wouldn't all browser apps, including Apple's own Safari and Google's Chrome, include illegal contents?' Chinese internet users were disappointed by the move by Apple. Zhou Shuguang, a prominent Chinese blogger and citizen journalist, told U.S.-based Radio Free Asia that Apple had taken away one of the tools which internet users in China relied on to circumvent the country's great firewall. 'Apple is determined to have a share of the huge cake which is the Chinese internet market. Without strict self-censorship, it cannot enter the Chinese market,' says one Chinese user disappointed by the move by Apple."
Clickbait (Score:5, Informative)
First, the app doesn't vanish from people's phones. If you have it, you still have it.
Second, it's illegal because China has laws that make circumventing their country's firewall illegal. Thus, illegal.
Third, blame China. Apple is respecting the laws of a nation. You don't like those laws - fine - but it's not Apple's fault for respecting those laws. Further, you knew they would respect those laws because their developer guidelines are crystal clear and readily available to anyone who wants to develop for the platform. You knew what was going on when you went into the project.
I know blaming Apple helps generate page views and gets your story in front of people where just blaming China won't but, sorry - clickbait is clickbait. Apple enforced rules that they've had in place for a long while and you knew they would. Deal with it.
Re:Corporations are not allowed BY LAW to have mor (Score:4, Informative)
Corporations are not allowed BY LAW to have morals
That's not really true... it all depends on their charter. The Red Cross is a corporation created by congress under Title 36, for example. However, as a practical matter most publicly held C corporations do prioritize stockholder value. The fact is the people who control a corporation can do whatever they want with it, so long as they do not defraud anyone.
Re:So just sideload it (Score:5, Informative)
You can do that actually - there are two ways to get an app onto an iPhone without going through Apple.
1) A developer certificate - lets you sign apps and install it on 100 devices.
2) An enterprise certificate - lets you sign apps and push it to unlimited numbers of devices that have been previously registered.
Both involve using a mobile provisioning file - the former is created by Apple, the latter by the enterprise as an Apple-derived certificate.
The latter is often used by many sites that help distribute iOS betas - the site holds an enterprise certificate they use to create mobileprovisioning certificates you load on your iOS device. the developer uploads their beta app, and the site distributes it (automatically or not) to the attached devices.