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GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

applecensorship.com

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Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#21

Post by Elidrake24 »

scarface74 wrote: post #13
dmix wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's silly. That's like wondering why people use awful streaming sites to watch movies and not download high quality torrents instead. Ease of use, easy of discovery, learning curves, etc.

What’s hard about going into settings and then General -> VPN -> add configuration and entering - Server - remote ID - Username - Password This is less setup than adding an email account.

Except an email account is something everyone has to use in the day to day, and getting to that point was a 15 year battle. Go down and work with the IT department sometime, it's incredible the blind spots you'll see. The calrity of your knowledge is far from universal

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#22

Post by givinguflac »

scarface74 wrote: post #5

I don’t get the purpose of “VPN apps” as opposed to just signing up for a VPN service and setting it up in iOS settings.

Setting up a VPN in settings works just fine, for that one server. I use NordVPN for example, and they allow me to pick from a ton of servers in any country on the fly, which would be nearly impossible (or very unrealistic) to do with the settings app. It also lets my see the load status and distance of various servers.

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#24

Post by mikeash »

scarface74 wrote: post #5

I don’t get the purpose of “VPN apps” as opposed to just signing up for a VPN service and setting it up in iOS settings.

Using an app allows you to use a custom protocol. Standard VPN protocols do a good job of protecting your information, but they don't even try to hide the fact that you're using a VPN at all, so they're not suitable for a situation where you're trying to get around a system that tries to block them completely.

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#25

Post by kccqzy »

scarface74 wrote: post #13
dmix wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's silly. That's like wondering why people use awful streaming sites to watch movies and not download high quality torrents instead. Ease of use, easy of discovery, learning curves, etc.

What’s hard about going into settings and then General -> VPN -> add configuration and entering - Server - remote ID - Username - Password This is less setup than adding an email account.

There are many configurations you cannot do via the Settings UI. Want to auto-connect / connect on demand? iOS supports this but not in the UI. For me it is important that if the VPN disconnects, the system will reconnect instead of silently using no VPN for all my traffic.

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#26

Post by scarface74 »

Elidrake24 wrote: post #21
scarface74 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s hard about going into settings and then General -> VPN -> add configuration and entering - Server - remote ID - Username - Password This is less setup than adding an email account.

Except an email account is something everyone has to use in the day to day, and getting to that point was a 15 year battle. Go down and work with the IT department sometime, it's incredible the blind spots you'll see. The calrity of your knowledge is far from universal

So who is the set of people who are both technically savvy enough to know they want a VPN but can’t follow the set up instructions I listed above if they were given by a VPN provider?

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#28

Post by zapzupnz »

scarface74 wrote: post #26
Elidrake24 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except an email account is something everyone has to use in the day to day, and getting to that point was a 15 year battle. Go down and work with the IT department sometime, it's incredible the blind spots you'll see. The calrity of your knowledge is far from universal

So who is the set of people who are both technically savvy enough to know they want a VPN but can’t follow the set up instructions I listed above if they were given by a VPN provider?

People with enough technical knowledge to know that they need a VPN to evade something like the Great Firewall, but not with enough technical knowledge to set it up manually.

They may have heard of so-and-so app, install it, and boom, it works. That's very appealing, especially if it's a custom protocol that is supposedly harder to detect.

Or maybe their grandkids have set it up for them, and don't want it to be any harder than it needs to be. Yada yada.

It's not really hard to come up with answers like this. The two options aren't "complete expert" and "blithering idiot".

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#29

Post by r00fus »

amingilani wrote: post #8

Please note that while Apple itself may censor applications in regions, creators of the apps may choose to limit their distributions as well. For example: Bank of America's mobile banking app isn't available in Pakistan where I currently am, but this website wouldn't differentiate between that type of censorship or Apple's censorship. But, personally, I still think this is a great idea!

Doesn’t this tool focus on removals? Ie app was deployed but then not available.

Re: GreatFire is tracking Apple iOS applications for instances of censorship

#30

Post by gotocake »

RandallBrown wrote: post #27

I'm not sure how this shows censorship. It just shows you if an app is available in China. Lots of apps aren't available in China or outside of where the developer is based.

Some people and groups have quite the axe to grind, and the buzzword guaranteed to work in this crowd is “censorship” so that’s what they’re calling it. Never mind who is actually doing the censoring, or where censorship and curation part ways. It’s emotive language designed to inflame passions at the expense of reason.
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