fredag 4. august 2017

Holes close in China's 'Great Firewall' as Apple and Amazon snub apps to bypass censors


Moves by business giants Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to stop people from using censorship-skirting apps in China have renewed questions about the extent to which U.S. companies are willing to work with authorities to operate in the vast but tightly controlled Chinese market.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook defended the company's decision to remove dozens of apps designed to circumvent censorship from the Chinese version of its app store.In an earnings call Tuesday, Cook said China tightened its rules on virtual private networks, or VPNs, in 2015 and was now making a renewed push to enforce them. "We would obviously rather not remove the apps, but like we do in other countries, we follow the law wherever we do business," he said.