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Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

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Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#31

Are iMessage and Facetime disabled in China?

iMessage and FaceTime are available in China, but it hardly matters because most communication in China happens over WeChat. If all the important stuff is happening over the heavily monitored app, leaving a few scragglers is not a big deal. Especially because, it's not like a criminal gang is going to have the money to arm every member with an iPhone with China's wages (and the ones that do are likely white-collar and detectable elsewhere), and it's also not like Apple is allowed to actively advertise or even discuss themselves as being "more secure than WeChat."

EDIT: Also, ~80%-90% of iPhone users in the country likely have iCloud Backup on. iCloud Backup is not E2E-encrypted in China, and is hosted by a Chinese company instead of Apple. If you want full E2E, you need to use iMessage and hope everyone in the party doesn't have iCloud Backup on... and that's a pretty niche threat now.

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#32
post #28

The current conservative government is on its last legs before being banished for at least a decade. It appears they already have their eyes on the lucrative private sector and are willing to vandalise the UK with little thought to public protest.

Labour are even more in favour of this than the tories are. Lib Dems, too. No mainstream party in the UK values your privacy.

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#34

Stuff like this is why I'm an Apple fanboy. I'm happy to pay a premium and be locked into their walled garden for some things if it means supporting a company that has the power to shift policy in favor of human rights (privacy in this case).

> has the power to shift policy in favor of human rights

Except for right to repair...

And software freedom...

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#35
post #10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope they really do this. All too often Companies will say this then when the law is passed they back down. Why, stockholders. Has Apple really removed iMessage and FaceTime anywere else ? Are these available with 100% full encryption in China ? If so then they are just blowing wind :(

> Are these available with 100% full encryption in China ? If so then they are just blowing wind :( Talk less, read more.

Well here is something for you to read, if you are a Chinese Citizen living in China, then these messages can be seen by the Government because iCloud data must be stored in China.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/cskufy/imessage_encryp...

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#36

Stuff like this is why I'm an Apple fanboy. I'm happy to pay a premium and be locked into their walled garden for some things if it means supporting a company that has the power to shift policy in favor of human rights (privacy in this case).

[flagged]

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#38
post #3

Stuff like this is why I'm an Apple fanboy. I'm happy to pay a premium and be locked into their walled garden for some things if it means supporting a company that has the power to shift policy in favor of human rights (privacy in this case).

In fairness, Meta has said the same thing re: WhatsApp, so while Apple deserves _some_ credit here for sticking to their principles, they're not exactly leading the pack. Which brings home the point that if _Meta_ isn't onboard with your privacy-obliterating proposal then you know you've really lost the plot...

Has Meta threatened to boycott? I know Signal has, and now Apple. However my searches for Meta/WhatsApp seem to show that there’s been contention over their introduction of E2E but they haven’t actually threatened to pull out over it.

That said, I’d be very happy to see that they did threaten a boycott as well.

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#39

Stuff like this is why I'm an Apple fanboy. I'm happy to pay a premium and be locked into their walled garden for some things if it means supporting a company that has the power to shift policy in favor of human rights (privacy in this case).

> has the power to shift policy in favor of human rights Except for right to repair... And software freedom...

Those are not human rights. Privacy, on the other hand, is.

Re: Apple says it'll remove iMessage and FaceTime in UK rather than break encryption

#40
i simply prefer not to believe anything that any government or any trillion dollar company says about encryption and privacy.

Apple:

> "We have never heard of PRISM", "We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers"

https://web.archive.org/web/20130609061546/https://www.culto...

..some things are just not discussed on public forums.

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