Apple and Other Browser Makers Ban Kazakhstan HTTPS Certificate Used to Surveil Citizens

[MacRumors]

Apple has teamed up with Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla to block a web browser root certificate that was being used by the Kazakhstan government to surveil its citizens.

The certificate allowed authorities to monitor people's online activity by intercepting and decrypting HTTPS traffic from residents in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan.

Local ISPs were required to block foreign websites including Google and Twitter, unless users had the certificate installed, but Apple and the other browser makers on Friday acted in unison to ban the certificate, according to ZDNet.

Since the ban, Chrome, Edge, Mozilla, and Safari refuse to work with the certificate, and the browsers throw up error messages to users who installed it, telling them the certificate can't be used because it isn't trustworthy.

As ZDNet notes, this is the second time the four browser makers have banned a certificate issued by the Kazakh government for man-in-the-middle attacks. The first block came in August 2019, and acted to prevent a certificate used to intercept traffic for various Russian and English-speaking social media sites.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple and Other Browser Makers Ban Kazakhstan HTTPS Certificate Used to Surveil Citizens

 

[BvizioN]

Mr Azamat Bagatov also must have some involvement.

 

[haruhiko]

Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world~~~ ?

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

They'll do the same with China right?

 

[Schizoid]

They'll do the same with China right?

Tim Cook is a great advocate of non-chinese human rights...

 

[haruhiko]

They'll do the same with China right?

China uses a much more sophisticated system of censorship there, unlike Kazakhstan’s lousy job of ... installing a Certificate? ?

 

[iHack13]

You can only point your finger on someone weaker (than you)


...Which shows your own weakness I guess. (and hypocrisy)

I dont know I just came up with this. I bet there are some (better) sayings like this. Let me know

 

[GermanSuplex]

Not a bad idea. It won’t stop the government from spying on its people, but at least big tech says “we won’t be complicit”.

 

[EmotionalSnow]

They'll do the same with China right?

Unfortunately not. But I can’t blame Cook, he would be fired if he pissed off China and quickly replaced with somebody who is willing to follow every single one of China’s demands.

 

[amartinez1660]

Unfortunately not. But I can’t blame Cook, he would be fired if he pissed off China and quickly replaced with somebody who is willing to follow every single one of China’s demands.

That’s an incredibly fair point.
We have no idea what being on that seat entails and how much wiggle room there is to make a dent without losing the head in the process.
I mean, for sure he is not waking up in the morning thinking “I’m going to make a lot of people unhappy today”.

 

[baryon]

The sad thing is that this is only possible because Apple has no significant relationship with Kazakhstan. China is a whole other story.

 

[jonnysods]

They'll do the same with China right?

You had to go there! I feel like the irony of this move by Apple is not lost on many!

 

[shadyman]

Why didn’t they start in their own country then? It’s the most surveilling country in the world lol.

 

[ruka.snow]

Why didn’t they start in their own country then? It’s the most surveilling country in the world lol.

China = bad, USA = good. Doing the right thing = bad, because it doesn't target the right bad guys.

 

[JosephAW]

It’s time for skynet to bypass local governments.

 

[ericwn]

China = bad, USA = good. Doing the right thing = bad, because it doesn't target the right bad guys.

And of course they’re not allowed to do one good thing until they solved all the other bad things.

And even then someone will say “bendgate”.

 

[canadianreader]

This the perfect example on how virtue signalling works.

 

[canadianreader]

Or maybe China is unhappy about not being able to spy on Kazakhs so they asked Big Tech to counter whatever they put in place and wrap it in a humanitarian gesture.

 

[ctyrider]

This the perfect example on how virtue signalling works.

I don’t think you understand what the term ‘virtue signaling” means. This is a perfect example of a concrete action taken, which is the exact opposite of “signaling”.

 

[Jimmy James]

Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world~~~ ?

All other countries are run by little girls.

 

[gnasher729]

Why didn’t they start in their own country then? It’s the most surveilling country in the world lol.

The USA doesn’t force you to install a root certificate on your phone that makes it possible for them to read all your https encrypted messages. If they did, I’d hope apple, Google etc. would ban that as well.

 

[Tech198]

Crafty.... Dam governments. They just choose not to adapt, so they try and exterminate instead.

We need a big can of fly spray.

 

[canadianreader]

I don’t think you understand what the term ‘virtue signaling” means. This is a perfect example of a concrete action taken, which is the exact opposite of “signaling”.

Virtue signalling action.

 

[Truckondo]

Came in for the Borat references. Was not disappointed. ?

 

[4jasontv]

This seems pretty simple. Tell them they will support this feature or all property in our country is relinquished to the government, and your products will be banned. Doesn’t sound like they were seeking counsel.