Russia Demands LinkedIn App Takedown, Apple and Google Comply (fortune.com) 110
Russia has forced Apple and Google to remove the LinkedIn mobile app from their Russian application markets, the latest chapter in a months-long campaign against the professional networking site. From a report on Fortune: A recently-passed Russian law requires that any company holding data on Russians house that data within Russia. Russia began blocking LinkedIn's website last November under that law, which some critics argue is an indirect form of censorship. The removal of the LinkedIn app from Apples App Store and Google's Play shows the willingness of major internet gatekeepers to comply with individual nations' data-control laws, on both the web and mobile devices.
In soviet Russia (Score:1)
Post firsts you
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Trump uses iPhone. His team uses an Android.
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That's backwards. His posts on Twitter are from an Android device, and he's known to use a Samsung phone. His campaign team was posting using an iPhone.
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I stand corrected [varianceexplained.org]. Thanks.
Lessons re-learned (Score:5, Insightful)
Just another reason Free Software is still relevant in the era of the app store.
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Right, with Free Software, you can write a competitor to linkedin, and STILL be forced to comply with the same goddamned restrictions that proprietary, walled-garden software is forced to comply with!
The problem is not that they've somehow "locked up your data in a proprietary container." The problem is that the Russian government has declared that anybody offering a service like LinkedIn MUST store data for Russian accounts in a place where Russia has legal jurisdiction. Free software does NOTHING to cha
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LinkedIn could make their app still closed source and with a simple ifRussian config, tell it to pull information from a different set of servers.
(bold by me)
This is the point. How are you stating it so clearly and yet still missing it?
With proprietary software, the proprietor is the only one that can make that decision, and you are subject to their choices so long as you wish to use said software/service. If it were free/open/libre, anyone could decide it was worth the effort to setup and configure a Russian version that complies with their laws.
LinkedIn has decided not to comply with the Russian law at this time, so they are being blocked and every
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Actually, GP is correct and you are missing the point. If the software was open source, you, or Russia, or anyone could use it to make a CLONE. That STILL would not solve the issue of LinkedIn not storing the collected data in Russia. You cannot force a large corporation to move their ALREADY EXISTING data to another country simply by forking their open source software and making some changes.
The issue Russia seems to have is they want the DATA inside Russia, presumably because they want unfettered access t
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Cool, give me all that sales data from that Calc file, the specs for that un-released widget since you did it in Blender, oh and your personal information you wrote up in that Writer file.
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It is likely someone will use free software to create a Linkedin clone for Russian users and have their data stored in Russia.
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I think he's refering to a distributed model, where every user would be able to either host their own data storage or pick their own host.
Kind of like the distributed Facebook competitor "Diaspora". Remember that project? Me neither.
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Can't individual users download the apps themselves? You need Google's permission to install an app now?
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Just another reason Free Software is still relevant in the era of the app store.
This is a problem of data, not of code.
Censorship/User's privacy protection? (Score:1)
Yeah. I don't like Putin in the least. That said, I'm more and more uneasy seeing how "our" and "their" leaders are resembling more and more each other -- and this with the consent (no: with loud acclamation!) of the majority (btw. as Putin or Erdogan have).
Fucking scary, if you ask me.
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The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
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Well, Trump has been getting paid by laundering Russian money since then 90s with Bayrock Group financing him after US companies wouldn't touch his idiotic business practices - like being the only money losing casino in Atlantic City for years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ct... [twimg.com]
Imagine a world where that's even possible (Score:1)
If anyone is so overwhelmingly attracted to the idea of allowing a company like Apple or Google to control the "application market" that they see, then they deserve to not have many applications, and for their computer to be significantly less capable than everyone else's. The whole point of turning all your selection power over to some company, is to personally have less power. So this works out great.
Meanwhile, in Real Life, the market simply is the market. Nobody can remove someone else's product from it
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If anyone is so overwhelmingly attracted to the idea of allowing a company like Apple or Google to control the "application market" that they see, then they deserve to not have many applications, and for their computer to be significantly less capable than everyone else's. The whole point of turning all your selection power over to some company, is to personally have less power. So this works out great.
Meanwhile, in Real Life, the market simply is the market. Nobody can remove someone else's product from it. Imagine how amazingly absurd that would be. The only way to get to that level of absurdity, would be to buy a computer where someone else controls what software you're allowed to use.
...and thus the iPhone was born!
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Unfortunately, legal jurisdiction on the Internet is the quintessential slippery slope. I would love to hear ways to deal with the inherent conflict, but as it stands today there is no easy way to avoid lowest-common denominator compliance.
iOS users might be out of luck. (Score:4, Informative)
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iOS users, never fear. Through the power of open Web APIs, you can still connect to LinkedIn without a native app. Just connect to https://www.linkedin.com./ [www.linkedin.com]
Unless, of course, you're in a jurisdiction where NETWORK CONNECTIONS TO LINKEDIN SERVERS ARE BLOCKED, in which case even if you use the AMAZING side-loading or web access workarounds, you will STILL be unable to connect to the service.
But Android users will DEFINITELY be happy that they can load a native app that connects to nothing. I'm sure they'l
So? (Score:3)
If Russia has any clue, the LinkedIn domains are already blacklisted. Removing the apps shouldn't be much more than adding insult to injury.
And since Android users could sideload it, it's practically ineffective unless Apple owns a much larger chunk of the Russian market than they did last time I looked.
Ignore the law (Score:2)
The removal of the LinkedIn app from Apples App Store and Google's Play shows the willingness of major internet gatekeepers to comply with individual nations' data-control laws, on both the web and mobile devices.
Since exactly when have any company on earth managed to ignore the existing laws in countries where they operate?
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Kidding aside, historically it came down to if you had a legal presence in a place then you needed to comply with the laws of the place. Now things are much more muddled.
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No it's not muddled, if you have legal presence in a place you have to comply with the laws of the place. The reason Uber manages to dodge some of the bullets fired at them is because they have no legal presence in the place, it's the drivers that do and thus they are the ones getting into trouble. Both Apple and Google want to have physical and thus legal presence in Russia so there is no Uber-like situation here.
And judging by how things went for Kim DotCom, TPB and so forth, Uber might soon find themselv
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Website too? (Score:2)
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Re:Russia is not the only company to require this. (Score:5, Informative)
The EU laws are similar, but different. They apply to companies with a presence in the EU, and protect the personal information of their citizens (data may not leave the country without dealing with more red tape). The RU law requires that the data be written to a server in Russia first, but the data may then leave the country - it protects their ability to access that data, rather than protecting the data. The impact is similar, but the differences are quite important.
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
Cue the trolls (Score:1)
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I can get paid for liking Russua, Putin and Trump? Where do i sign up?
Can we talk? (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't give a goddam rat's ass about LinkedIn.
It's a spammy piece of shit that's been hacked over and over again and it's useless a tits on a boar.
It's business model is just like the fucking dating sites.
--
Russian is a sovereign country and can do whatever the shit they want.
I'm in another sovereign country and I convinced management that LinkedIn is crappy.
It's banned.
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Yeah, there's not much to this story. If LinkedIn doesn't want to store data on Russians inside Russia, then they can't operate there. Fine. This is the exact same reason why our company has a server in South Africa. It's not about free speech or whatever else, if the country wants you to store data on their citizens inside their country, then you can either comply or not give access to that country. I don't see how anyone should have a problem with that. If you can switch around the story and insert
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Stop hitting yourself, APK.
So? (Score:2)
Do we get to push our laws into foreign countries?
If so, can foreign countries start enforcing their laws in our country?
Their house, their business. Our house, our business.
Push products they do want and maybe they'll change the mind on products they don't.
And seriously, would you want your private information stored on a server in a foreign country? Seems like a no brainer for Russia.
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Do we get to push our laws into foreign countries?
Yes, all the time. We arrested Manual Noriega who was the dictator of his own country from drug trafficking in his own country.
We arrested a Russian citizen for break the U.S. DMCA in a way required by Russian law (when he landed in the United states for a conference).
We try to force our laws to be enforced all over the world all the time.
If so, can foreign countries start enforcing their laws in our country?
Believe me they try. That is in some ways the poi
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> seriously, would you want your private information stored on a server in a foreign country?
YES PLEASE.
Seriously, would you, as a citizen of the Free Internet, rather have your private information stored on a server in Russia or in a foreign country?
Thought so.
But apple will not help the FBI! trump needs to pu (Score:2)
But apple will not help the FBI! trump needs to put tim cook in his place.
Why so impatient? (Score:2)
Why are they so impatient?
Just a few more weeks and every database in the US will be hosted in Russia.
So ... ? (Score:2)
Is all the data in Google Play and Apple app store about Russians stored on servers in Russia?
Russia (Score:2)
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You would be right if it was a plan to protect the citizens’ privacy.
However the plan is to put Russia(n government) in a preferential position to violate said privacy.
Interesting technicial hurdle (Score:2)
Like many of you, I was wondering "OK, so why don't they just spin up a few AWS or Azure instances in Russia to make their government happy?"
Then I realized that AWS doesn't have a hosting center in Russia. Neither does Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.
All of a sudden, it looks like they would have to make a custom one off server farm to appease Russia. It probably isn't worth the effort for them to do so.
Russia is not America, so it is acceptable (Score:2)
Had it been American authorities, Apple would've put up a heroic fight [nytimes.com]. But helping Russian (and Chinese [latimes.com]) efforts to keep tabs on their citizens and enable dragnets by foreign governments — well, that's just complying with local laws [slashdot.org], nothing to see here.
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If Apple had the data in an accessible form, they likely wouldn't have been able to fight, and would have lost a lot of support.
You're comparing data locality to circumventing security and forcing a company (i.e., people) to do work to that end (and to severely damage their brand as a result).
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I'm comparing resisting the perfectly reasonable request from the US government to help it access data on one cell phone used by a dead terrorist, with agreeing to aid mass-surveillance by the Russian and Chinese governments.
Russia and data (Score:1)
Great! (Score:2)
They've got a law that states companies holding data on their citizens must keep that data within their own borders. This is great, and they have good reason to have such a law. The icing on the cake is that they're actually trying to enforce the law.
LinkedIn, the world's largest spam network, being the current whipping boy is a bonus. I doubt LinkedIn has much of a Russian userbase, so if it comes down to it LinkedIn can just never comply with Russia's laws and Russia can't do shit beyond try to block t
How does taking down LinkedIn work where.... (Score:2)
Here is a scenario. Let's say I was a Russian who came to the US for a few days, visited the Apple Store on my phone, downloaded all the banned apps, including LinkedIn, and then flew back there.
Once I was back, how would either the Apple Store - or the Play Store - not having the app online - be of any use? Particularly if I disable the app store once I am back?
Link? (Score:2)
Where is the link to this story? :P
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How would Trump get his money transferred then?
Re: just do what russia wants (Score:4, Informative)
While both have very dubious accounting practices, only one foundation actually helps people. Well, people besides Trump.
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
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How would Trump get his money transferred then?
Operatives exchange briefcases full of cash for envelopes of IOUs at Checkpoint Charlie.
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Some people don't like being eskimo brothers with a whole country.