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Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

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Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In principle code signing is a good idea, this way Apple can ensure an improved security standard over their competition. There is nothing wrong with code signing. There is everything wrong with making Apple the sole arbiter of mandatory code signing. It's the difference between being against locks, and being against someone else owning the keys to your house. --- > I won't blame Apple, they aren't people [...] I b…

> Corporations are not robots. Apple is run by people, and specifically people who are much more knowledgable on this subject than the average consumer. They should feel some level of social responsibility. Sometimes I wonder how many instances to the contrary people need to get this falsehood out of their heads. Corporations are only beholden to their shareholders, if any one person at Apple (including the CEO) is n…

This is a way of thinking that emerged within the past century. It was not always considered universally true, and I think it's harming society.

Why do we consider it acceptable for CEOs to shrug off any and all social consequences of their actions? We can and should outlaw actions that are socially harmful, but we shouldn't just shrug our shoulders when powerful people find ways to skirt those rules to enrich themselves.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans still think of themselves as the best in the world. If that is not manifest destiny, then what is it?

From Wikipedia, > Manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the 19th century United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. The average American does not think that America should expand any further throughout the world, nor do they think that America has an irresistible duty to remake the world in its image. The theme of "the special virtues of the American people and their institut…

A thread on HN is a far cry from what a typical American thinks. America doesn’t need to take over other nations in the parochial sense. Rather the number of bases the US has established throughout the world accomplish manifest destiny in a modern fashion. No other country has or has ever had this level or scale of military deployment.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#453
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And in one fell swoop, Apple has made it effectively impossible to install this app on your phone. There's no realistic workaround. Make the app a Web App and visit it in Safari. Apple has banned it being notarized and distributed from their App Store but iPhones still have access to the conventional web which Apple has no control over.

I wonder whether Hong Kong is behind the great firewall or not. Specifically, whether HK is behind it but the firewall is transparent for HK requests.

It is definitely not, However, a surprising (to me) number of people in HK use WeChat for nearly everything, so...

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#454

Blizzard and now Apple. I think this is very serious and it should be a wake-up call. As simple citizens we don't have much choices but vote with our wallets and use social networks to attack the most valuable asset of those companies, their reputation.

That’s not how this works. Apple is one of the wealthiest companies in the world, and saying “just don’t spend money there” is a bit reductionist and trivializes the problem of corporations with more power than nation-states. You need to fight fire with fire: governments of the world (especially the US government) need to create laws that restrict and punish this kind of behavior. Otherwise, I sincerely doubt Apple’s…

> trivializes the problem of corporations with more power than nation-states.

But they don't have more power than nation states. Last I checked nation states had guns, and guns are still very much the real source of all power in this world.

Apple has a lot of money. That makes them economically dependent on a larger surface area of not only nation states but other corporations. In a way it gives them less power.

A more personal analogy: a regular old Joe or Jane can say anything they want on social media with little fear of anything bad happening because their economic dependency surface area is small. A corporate CEO must watch what they say much more carefully, as Elon Musk learned with his various stupid tweets. A government official on the other hand, like Trump, can say asinine provocative things all day with little consequence because he's in a high position in an organization with guns. Xi Jinpeng is even more immune as his government has fewer checks and balances.

In terms of practical freedom of speech and political/social action, being rich outside the protection of the state is probably the least powerful position you can be in.

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#455
post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North Americans? The people in the 23 countries that make up the North American continent. Why not western nations in general?

> 23 countries Canada, USA, Mexico, what are the other 20?

Greenland, Caribbean, most of Central America...

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#456
post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North Americans? The people in the 23 countries that make up the North American continent. Why not western nations in general?

> 23 countries Canada, USA, Mexico, what are the other 20?

USA Canada Mexico Guatemala Belize Honduras El Salvador Nicaragua Costa Rica Panama Bahamas Cuba Jamaica Haiti Dominican Rep. St. Kits and Nevis Antigua and Barbuda Dominica Saint Lucia Barbados St. Vincent and the Grenadines Grenada Trinidad and Tobago

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#457

And in one fell swoop, Apple has made it effectively impossible to install this app on your phone. There's no realistic workaround. † Apple should never have been capable of making such a drastic decision for all of their customers. It's one thing to make determinations about what products are allowed in your store, but quite another to unilaterally ban software from what is many people's primary computer. We live in…

There is a supposedly 'unpatchable' new jailbreak for most currently-in-use iPhones, it seems: https://www.cnet.com/news/theres-a-new-jailbreak-for-million... .

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#458
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And in one fell swoop, Apple has made it effectively impossible to install this app on your phone. There's no realistic workaround. Make the app a Web App and visit it in Safari. Apple has banned it being notarized and distributed from their App Store but iPhones still have access to the conventional web which Apple has no control over.

Apple has been (I suspect purposefully!) dragging their feet on progressive web app support. There list of limitations is long, but most critically for this app (I would imagine), they can't send notifications and they can't work offline.

There are a number of interesting use cases for PWAs, but part of Apple's fear is (potentially) many of their clients will migrate to PWA only, reducing App Store revenue severely.

Apple also loses all code auditing and screening, meaning they can't ban GPL licensed PWAs like they ban alternative Linphone builds (as they are GPLv2), Signal Private Messenger builds (GPLv3) and only the official developer can build and submit these apps to the app store.

Apple's GPL ban also effiectively mandates these apps having broad CLAs to ensure they can relicense the code for use in the Apple App Store.

Edit: removed bonus apostrophe

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#459
post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which goal is that?

being an even bigger economic power!

I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for was:

  - To protect the world from devastation
  - To unite all peoples within our nation
  - To denounce the evils of truth and love
  - To extend our reach to the stars above

Re: Apple Removes HKmap.live from the App Store

#460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're pretty invested in being an American, skin in the game, manifest destiny etc. That's probably where you lose most of the US audience. One of the biggest differences between American and Chinese culture is that manifest destiny is mostly dead in America, but it isn't in China. Of course America has multinationals jockeying for global power, but that doesn't reflect how the voters think.

Americans still think of themselves as the best in the world. If that is not manifest destiny, then what is it?

Patriotism. A noble trait that everyone should possess and covet.
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