Apple Removes Apps From China Store That Help Internet Users Evade Censorship<br />“We gladly filed an amicus brief in support of Apple in their backdoor encryption battle with the F. B.I.,” he said, “so we are extremely disappointed<br />that Apple has bowed to pressure from China to remove VPN apps without citing any Chinese law or regulation that makes VPN illegal.”<br />He added, “We view access to internet in China as a human rights issue, and I would expect Apple to value human rights over profits.”<br />In a statement, Apple noted that the Chinese government announced this year that all developers offering VPNs needed to obtain a government license.<br />ExpressVPN wrote in its blog that the removal was “surprising and unfortunate.”<br />It added, “We’re disappointed in this development, as it represents the most drastic measure the Chinese government has taken to block the use of VPNs to date,<br />and we are troubled to see Apple aiding China’s censorship efforts.”<br />Sunday Yokubaitis, president of Golden Frog, a company<br />that makes privacy and security software including VyprVPN, said its software, too, had been taken down from the app store.<br />“These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business.”<br />This is not the first time that Apple has removed apps at the request of the Chinese government,<br />but it is a new reminder of how deeply beholden the tech giant has become to Beijing at a moment when the leadership has been pushing to tighten its control over the internet.<br />A search on Saturday showed that a number of the most popular foreign virtual-private networks, also known as VPNs, which<br />give users access to the unfiltered internet in China, were no longer accessible on the company’s app store there.
