Apple Pulls Gambling Apps Targeted by Chinese State Media
wsj.com
wsj.com
I read earlier in the month even Google has caved in, despite being an example years ago by refusing to participate in censorship
But then I know their primary priority is to increase revenue/profits. Can't do that by being blocked out of such a massive market.
Or is this some sort of pseudo-intellectual libertarian assumption that functions as 'true' by eliminating all variables which disagree with it?
I live in Austria, but I want a US iCloud account. I can't, use non-US iTunes gift cards with my US iCloud account. I have to buy US iTunes gift cards, which I have to get on eBay, or buy them when I visit the US.
It's a total PITA, as vendors selling these items are super-paranoid and often won't sell to you without some kind of "verification" that takes days/weeks to clear.
Btw, if anyone has any other workaround, I would be very grateful. Something like a US pre-paid debit card that permits non-US customers and that is also accepted by Apple. I haven't found one that satisfies both criteria.
I can only recommend a local account if you plan on staying there for longer though, the more things you buy the harder it is to convert it into another country later and take your purchases with you. I had to go through that and it was annoying, as afterwards (on your account after the switch) you don’t see your purchase before your switch, but if you buy them you get a message saying “You already bought this one, this will be free” - but you are never sure if you get charged or not as this message comes at the step where you usually get your payment confirmation.
Unfortunately it requires a credit card with a US billing address[1].
> Also you can switch to Canada region without any payment method(while switching to US region requires a US credit card).
The US store also does not require a credit card[2][3]. It does require entering a US address, but the address is not validated in any way.
Edit: apparently you can't always chose "none" as a payment method when changing regions[4]. I can't remember what I did, I might have created the account while being in the US, or perhaps I used ssh port forwarding with an US server, but, as you can see it works for me.
[1] https://i.imgur.com/dvT9M1J.png
[2] https://i.imgur.com/5ZQ0Lih.png
Some systems don't check anything, most systems only check the numeric characters written in the address, but some systems also check the country and/or zip code.
I can't use my Austrian CC to buy from your Apple link, but I could use it at Lowe's with some US address (I used my Austrian address street but with country US).
Btw, I could not order a Macbook Pro from apple.com (online), even when I was in the US, and the online system allowed entering an Austrian billing address. The payment went through, but the order was cancelled a few days later with no explanation (and no money back either!). I had to plead with Apple support that I am not, in fact, some kind of scammer, and they made me come in person to an Apple store and only after I presented them with two separate types of government ID they returned me the money (and allowed me to place a new order there, in person).
Life sucks if you are not a US person.
How they found gambling in a calendar app is beyond me.
Overall impression is that they were simply given a list of app urls and they had them block them without any right to question that.
The weirdest I've seen:
http://www.motorscooterguide.net/Kymco/Bet-Win/Bet-Win.html A motorcycle whose model name is "Bet & win"
Illegal in what jurisdiction one wonders?
FTA: "In China, Apple said it removed nearly 700 virtual private networks, or VPN, apps from its App Store last year in response to new local restrictions."
There are things I could say in this comment that would be a federal felony. No country has absolute freedom of speech. All countries draw a line somewhere. China draws that line in a different place to the US. It's not right or wrong, it's just different.
Example: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/playmgm/id1083947754?mt=8
Of course it is bad for censorship in autoritarian countries, but I'm glad for the extra customer protections in the EU vs the US.
edit: And I'm also glad that foreign companies need to comply with local laws in my country. Since about everything comes from China directly or indirectly, I would be living in a de-facto Chinese province right now.
Gambling apps are not illegal in the US, it is decided at the state level like all other gambling.
By that logic performing surgery is illegal, should Apple remove an app that helps operate surgical equipment?
Also, many states allow private gambling anywhere as long as there is no house edge(vig/rake), which makes it more of an industry regulation.
Yes? That would probably make it a medical device which is also regulated.
???
A medical device of that nature would definitely be regulated. The FDA is gonna want to talk to you about that.
Gambling is allowed everywhere in Nevada except for Boulder City. You might be thinking about brothels, which face broad geographic restrictions imposed by the state.
The only reason it's not allowed in Boulder City is because Boulder City was founded as federal government work camp while building what is now Hoover Dam. People who live there have since repeatedly voted not to allow gambling in their town.
The story is pretty much no controversy, being that they are eliminating gambling apps