Apple may have said that it opposes the idea of weakening encryption and providing governments with backdoors into products, but things are rather different in China. The Chinese parliament has just passed a law that requires technology companies to comply with government requests for information, including handing over encryption keys.
Under the guise of counter-terrorism, the controversial law is the Chinese government's attempt to curtail the activities of militants and political activists. China already faces criticism from around the world not only for the infamous Great Firewall of China, but also the blatant online surveillance and censorship that takes place. This latest move is one that will be view very suspiciously by foreign companies operating within China, or looking to do so.
http://betanews.com/2015/12/27/china-passes-law-requiring-tech-firms-to-hand-over-encryption-keys/
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday December 28 2015, @08:10PM
That isn't ALL BAD. What happens when there is an atrocity here in the states? Every news agency in the nation carries gory details, 24/7 for days and weeks.
While I agree that the US media is terrible -- they really seem to have done a number on the American public over Paris (does the average Trump voter know Paris is in France - home of the people that caused Freedom Fries - and not Paris Texas) -- banning freedom of speech IS ALL BAD.
Your population, unlike the rest of the free world, seems hooked on this type of wall-to-wall coverage. That's a fault that runs deep into your culture, but it's not a problem with free speech.
I'd be open to regulations that prevent fake news being passed off as "The Truth", and Fox is of course terribly guilty of this - invite a blowhard to come on and spread lies, then don't challenge them, passing off opinion as fact. That isn't free speech (Recent example [theguardian.com]). By all means Fox and Russia Today can say what they want, they shouldn't be allowed to pass it off as the truth though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2015, @10:13PM
they shouldn't be allowed to pass it off as the truth though.
If only there was some kind of entity, a ministry perhaps, who could decide what is and what isn't allowed to be passed off as 'the truth'.