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Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

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Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#31

In other news, when you were able to visit Google Maps in China you would see the Chinese view of the world where disputed regions are part of China, while the rest of the world would see something else. https://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-...

To be fair, that's true elsewhere as well. They reflect the borders as they are officially recognized in the user's country.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#32

The degree that China goes to censor things reminds me of kindergarten. Pull the shades down, and kids won't want to go outside? Is it simply a reminder to their people of who's in charge, at this level of pettiness?

China is showing the ability to control one of the world's largest, and most advanced companies. It isn't petty–it is scary. The U.S. and others have sold their soul to the devil for $299 flat screen tvs.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#34
post #25

The degree that China goes to censor things reminds me of kindergarten. Pull the shades down, and kids won't want to go outside? Is it simply a reminder to their people of who's in charge, at this level of pettiness?

I think most people on Hacker-News would know that Taiwan exists, even though a flag is missing on their phone. I think for the general population in the US or Europe that's not so clear. If one would never hear about Taiwan, would we really "know" it exists?

> If one would never hear about Taiwan, would we really "know" it exists?

It's a sort of reverse branding exercise. If you can reduce exposure as much as possible there's not going to be a lot of sentiment for supporting the cause. What would be of Palestine today without the exposure that has been directed at it.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#35

In other news, when you were able to visit Google Maps in China you would see the Chinese view of the world where disputed regions are part of China, while the rest of the world would see something else. https://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-...

In China, any mapping app is ran through the government owned mapping servers. Apple Maps, Google Maps, etc., are all using Chinese servers deployed and ran by external Chinese teams.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#36

The degree that China goes to censor things reminds me of kindergarten. Pull the shades down, and kids won't want to go outside? Is it simply a reminder to their people of who's in charge, at this level of pettiness?

Imagine that the war of 1812 had resulted a complete British/Canadian conquest of the US, which lasted for the most of the 19th century. Then imagine that Florida had successfully seceded from the US after WWII and joined the Soviet Union, along with all of Canada. Then finally imagine that the Soviet Union won the Cold War and has been the sole world superpower for the last thirty years.

How would we feel, in that world, if the US government wanted to censor people mentioning Florida? Of course there would be complicated questions about whether that censorship was ethical or helpful, and about the government's real motivations for proposing it. But I think it would be clear to everyone involved that "kindergarten levels of pettiness" wasn't the right starting point for understanding those motivations.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#37
post #18

Humble suggestion: Hong Kong iOS users should file a radar/feedback.

It isn't a bug, the decision is intentional. I'm sure Apple is aware of how ridiculous this is and how their users hate it.

True, but they also need to earn money. See last week's south park about exactly that.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#38
post #19

The degree that China goes to censor things reminds me of kindergarten. Pull the shades down, and kids won't want to go outside? Is it simply a reminder to their people of who's in charge, at this level of pettiness?

I think it is petty. At the same time it's a good gauge for them to figure out what else they can do. Start with "hey man don't show that one pic" and the company figures "it's one pic, whatever we're not really compromising our values". A few more steps and then it seems less dramatic when it comes to "give us that information on that one user"... and so on. Personally I would expect an external social credit score…

It also tells China how useful Apple is to US intelligence efforts.

Setting aside the financial aspect, if Apple is unwilling to make a stand here, then they can infer that Apple is not willing to lose access to the market over this.

If they push further and further in a "measured" approach, they can detect resistance. If Apple gets close to the point where they are willing to fight / bail. They it's likely because the situation is getting to the point where its a losing deal. By knowing the costs they impose, they can measure the value to Apple.

By controlling for the financial aspect (which they can calculate based on production costs + sales), they can figure out a rough value of the intel and it's nature.

Of course, that's assuming Apple acts rationally, which would be ill-advised.

Re: Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

#40
This reminds me of the story about how the first release of Windows 95 was banned in India because 8 pixels of the map shown in the timezone selection control panel were colored in such a way that suggested parts of Kashmir were part of Pakistan.

https://www.cnet.com/news/how-eight-pixels-cost-microsoft-mi...

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030822-00/?p=42...

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