That's great news. As long as I can turn it off and carry on using something with proper E2E encryption.
Of course we all know why China loves RCS!
They like it because the carriers like it and wanted to adopt the new GSMA standard. China opened the floor to let telecoms and other companies suggest new updates to the 5G certification and those companies wanted RCS. That's it. Strange that the original article didn't mention the mundane origins of this law. No grand conspiracy here because SMS/MMS, WeChat, and most other messaging services in China are already compliant with Chinese domestic intelligence law so why would they need to push RCS for political reasons?
Apple is not alone of course. Companies are in business to make a profit and moral, ethical principals often take a back seat to the profit motive. Apple fights for its principals in the U.S. and the EU because it can. In China it can’t fight for anything the authoritarian government doesn’t like. That’s not to lessen any company’s hypocrisy but it is how the world works.
Where is Apple fighting for its "principles" in the US and EU that don't align with a profit incentive? I can't find any instance of that, I could be missing something though. Meanwhile, iCloud Advanced Data Protection is available in China. The same exact implementation as the one we get here in the US and EU according to Craig Federighi, the one that the EU wants to outlaw because they hate encryption (read: "EU" not "China").
If a Chinese user enables that feature it means Apple (and by extension the Chinese state owned enterprise that operates iCloud data centers) can't read your iCloud data. Strange, people here told me China bans all privacy and encryption.
In your opinion would that be an example of Apple fighting for its "privacy principles" in China?
So is the conclusion then that RCS is less secure?://
No. Why is that your conclusion?
Considering the US stance on TikTok and Huawei, it's surprising that the government hasn't launched an investigation into Apple's relationship with China. With Apple's reliance on China, both for sales revenue and manufacturing prowess, it's absolutely reasonable to consider that Apple is sharing user data or other information believed to be private or worse, programing in "back doors".
As more and more evidence shows that Apple is willingly (or unwillingly) beholden to China, this is a scary revelation and one that ought to invoke more scrutiny.
Why is it reasonable to consider Apple is sharing American user data with China or programming "back doors" for China when Apple's track record so far has indicated they will happily collaborate with US intelligence services? As an American should I be more concerned with Apple hiding the fact that they share data with my own government (using grey area secret courts to enable mass data collection) or with Apple openly sharing *some* Chinese user data with the Chinese government as per Chinese law that most people in China don't care about? (See CPC and Xi Jinping approval rate as reported by WESTERN sources, let alone Chinese sources).
Also curious what incentive Apple would have to collaborate in secret with Chinese intelligence services considering Apple's global power and monopoly status is backed by US hegemony and not the Chinese who are actively promoting Chinese companies over Apple in preparation for the new era of US hostility against the new center of the world.
Wouldn't Apple have more of an incentive to build back doors for the US?
Hmmm.... Lots to think about.
If China wants it, you know it isn't good for us.
I guess this makes sense. I have an idea! I'm going to eat nuclear waste because China recently banned the purchase of Japanese fish from the areas used to dump nuclear waste from the Fukushima disaster. China says eating nuclear contaminated fish is bad so therefore it must be good for us. Care to join me?
