US to Purge ‘Untrusted’ Apps in New Measures Against China

[anthogag]

This is fighting fire with fire. China's totalitarian communist regime doesn't like the taste of their own cake.

Chinese companies may not be actively spying for China's government but China's government can tap into these companies whenever it needs to.

 

[Arcus]

About time. Less threatening more doing though.

Oh lord so sad to see people drink donalds cool aid.

 

[Jyby]

Lots of Chinese in America depend on WeChat to communicate with family back home. It’s ridiculous to think WeChat steals anymore data than say Facebook... Especially in a sandboxed system like iOS. Do people really think WeChat deploys hacks to steal contacts on phones (at least on iOS)? If they did you know the other social media platforms are doing the same thing...

 

[Jyby]

Does this mean Pompeo’s staff will start regulating the App Store?

There’s definitely going to be law suits and this will go to the Supreme Court in sure.. They won’t just snap their fingers and the rest of the government not challenge this non sense

 

[johannnn]

Good luck getting ANY votes from Chinese ppl in the next election. Everyone uses WeChat.

 

[Jyby]

I wonder how far they could take this- and force Apple to ban WeChat on iPhone in China... There goes any future iPhone sales

 

[jav6454]

The US is supposed to believe in the free market and democracy (freedom). China (gov't anyway) doesn't believe in these things.

Then why keep the trade embargo on Cuba? What good does that serve a free market? Cuba isn't even a nuisance to the US.

At any rate, to be honest, I am against Trump's overall rhetoric, but I do agree that the CCP and China are a global threat at this point. To be fair, it was ourselves that gave them power by concentrating the world's Supply Chain in China. Now we are diversifying.

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

why invite Chinese competition to the marketplace if US competition isn’t invited into theirs. Ban them and move on. Stop the threats and do it.

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

-Gandhi

I find it disgusting (yet telling) that the school kid logic of “well, they did it first... so my bad behavior is ok” excuse in your post got more upvotes than almost any other comment... not gonna lie, kinda makes me embarrassed to be a part of this little community.

 

[lixuelai]

It is pretty ironic that the U.S. is trying to beat China by becoming more like China.

 

[pratikindia]

Lots of Chinese in America depend on WeChat to communicate with family back home. It’s ridiculous to think WeChat steals anymore data than say Facebook... Especially in a sandboxed system like iOS. Do people really think WeChat deploys hacks to steal contacts on phones (at least on iOS)? If they did you know the other social media platforms are doing the same thing...

You have no idea.

 

[macdos]

You see any Chinese gunboats off your coastline?

At any rate, to be honest, I am against Trump's overall rhetoric, but I do agree that the CCP and China are a global threat at this point.

 

[coolkid93]

an app that should be banned is Grindr

 

[macdos]

Nah, they are all welcome to operate on the Chinese market. Of course, under the assumption that they obey Chinese law, just as Chinese companies operating in the US obey US law.

Well, China bans Google services, YouTube, Facebook... after all

 

[jarman92]

I’ve read a ton of stories about this, and not once has anyone explained HOW the government plans on doing this. How exactly can the US “ban” an app? Millions of people already have TikTok on their phones—what happens to them?

Some of these journalists really need to do their job and actually press these people about their plans. And I’d love to see that fat moron Pompeo try to explain anything about technology.

 

[calstanford]

The US is no better than China. European and other international businesses need to watch out.

 

[lixuelai]

Also, Google/Facebook etc are banned in China because they don't follow local laws. Google tried to go back in with Dragonfly but canned it after protests back home. Obviously censorship is bad. However it is a case of Google/Facebook choosing not to operate there because of the values that are dictated to them rather than them being banned just because they are American social media.

If you are really looking for a quid pro quo the US should formalize a law on what American values for the internet are, and dictate it to Chinese or whoever wants to operate in the US.

 

[jmpage2]

China is a dishonest communist regime that murders and oppresses its own people. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[macdos]

The PRISM program is still running, all while Snowden is exiled to Russia and Assange is holed up in the American colony of England. So much for a ”clean” network… NSA, FBI and so on have all your data.

Unless the spying on American citizens is being carried out by its own government.

 

[macdos]

In terms of murdering, I believe the US is way ahead… although not necessarily its own people. As for dishonest, Xi Jinping is a revered statesman in comparison with Zdrumpf.

EDIT: I’ll take that back. Zdrumpf’s corona strategy is actually a kind of state operated murder…

China is a dishonest communist regime that murders and oppresses its own people. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

AMERICA does. TRUMP and his cronies don't.

Then vote him out and we can all go back to the good old days when the US was actually a nice country to live in and visit.

The way China is reacting to this, shows me how much spyware is in these apps.

You have no idea what you're talking about. Please provide some forensic evidence of the spyware, not some propaganda website/blog claiming it's there. People claimed the same thing in the TikTok tread and while I provided what data is actually collected, there's no evidence of any issues with national security - no one was able to post any proof.

Please provide peer reviewed publication, if you have found something on your own, forward this as well and I'll give it to our cybersecurity research group just down the hall from my research group. Our security guys are pretty good at what they do, among the best in the world. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear your expertise.

 

[iPhonemaster5S]

I do not support the Trump administration on any level but THIS I agree on completely. Why is it somehow ok for China to ban western apps and companies but not ok if going the other way around? The hypocrisy reeks in this and would love to see retaliation continue in this arena as the CCP entirely deserves it. Time for them to have some of their own medicine.

 

[twolf2919]

Right, it's a necessity, because the CCP only allows its people to use its government approved apps. Have fun giving an authoritarian communist regime your WeChat info. 👍

Have you ever even been in China? Or, more specifically within the last 5 years? As the OP points out, WeChat *is* pretty much a necessity there, since it's pervasively used to pay for stuff. The Chinese use WeChat like we use credit cards - except even more so. People look at you funny if you try to pay with cash. I remember going into a department store there last year and wanting to pay for the item with cash. Took the clerk 15 minutes to find cash to give me change!

 

[twolf2919]

I do not support the Trump administration on any level but THIS I agree on completely. Why is it somehow ok for China to ban western apps and companies but not ok if going the other way around? The hypocrisy reeks in this and would love to see retaliation continue in this arena as the CCP entirely deserves it. Time for them to have some of their own medicine.

Uh, have you ever heard the saying "two wrongs don't make a right"? Yes, there's definitely hypocrisy in China's response to the US action, but that doesn't make the US action right. As I indicated in my previous post, the US - prior to Trump at least - used to believe in the concept of 'innocent until proven guilty'. I guess the only thing you believe in is 'an eye for an eye"?

 

[magicschoolbus]

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

-Gandhi

I find it disgusting (yet telling) that the school kid logic of “well, they did it first... so my bad behavior is ok” excuse in your post got more upvotes than almost any other comment... not gonna lie, kinda makes me embarrassed to be a part of this little community.

The US has invited Chinese competition into our marketplace and we have empty factories and towns dying. They have raped and pillaged the areas we have invited them in - you really want to see that happen to our tech industry as well? China does not play by the rules. If this were a French company, German company, whatever - I would say this is insane, locking out foreign competition. But China has never played by the rules, ever, and have locked US competition out of their economy. How does inviting them benefit the US? Please, enlighten me.

 

[macdos]

Americans still cling to their checks as well… like stone age tech in the rest of the world. No wonder they are afraid of the Chinese competition.

Have you ever even been in China? Or, more specifically within the last 5 years? As the OP points out, WeChat *is* pretty much a necessity there, since it's pervasively used to pay for stuff. The Chinese use WeChat like we use credit cards - except even more so. People look at you funny if you try to pay with cash. I remember going into a department store there last year and wanting to pay for the item with cash. Took the clerk 15 minutes to find cash to give me change!