China bans 105 apps, eight app stores, and says it’ll swing the hammer again

China has banned 105 apps from reaching local users and says it’ll ban more in future. An announcment from the State Cyberspace Administration says the bans were made in response to citizen concerns about apps that offer obscene content, gambling or make it possible to procure intimate personal services. Top of the list is …

[lglethal]

Maybe...

Maybe Tripadvisor is banned because its a great source of information on foreign places, and great for encouraging people to travel the world and see new sites. And of course we cant have that, one of them might come back and write a book called "What I did on my holidays", about how things actually work in the rest of the world...

(Terry Pratchett - an oracle who is sorely missed...)

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Maybe...

T.P. on backpackers:

Most people can travel the world and never get outside their own head.

[msknight]

It just demonstrates the difference...

...between democracy and dictatorship. China, does what it likes and cuts swathes of services in an instant. America, can't even ban TikTok after lengthy court battles. This whole situation does seem to be a bit of a joke.

[Filippo]

Re: It just demonstrates the difference...

In both cases, but for different reasons, it's a feature and not a bug.

[Danny Boyd]

Re: It just demonstrates the difference...

Democracy vs. dictatorship, eh? Here on El Reg two hours after this post: https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/10/twitter_mozilla_eu_data/ "Twitter, Mozilla, Vimeo slam Europe’s one-size-fits-all internet content policing plan." You were saying, sir..?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Video nasties"

May I assume that the "video nasties" the population are protected from somehow accidentally include documentaries about A Certain Event on the 4th of June 1989?

[Peter Clarke 1]

Re: "Video nasties"

It;s the Disney streaming site. Can't have the populace seeing the Enemy of the State Winnie the Pooh

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "Video nasties"

Do you mean the Tiananmen Square Massacre?

Not sure why you're so coy about naming it.

[bombastic bob]

Re: "Video nasties"

I thought he was just being funny...

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: "Video nasties"

Yeah but something very UNfunny I discovered coupla months ago:

Mainland Chinese under 30yo know literally nothing about it. It's just a great cultural place, no massacre or anything happened there. But they HAVE been warned that the West makes up stories and lies about China and Chinese places, so not to believe them.

Very surreal experience a month or so ago talking to 2 Chinese mates who work together: 1 HongKongese 1 Chinese, HK boy mentions that the mainlanders know nothing of it, in tones of horror/outrage, and she's just rolling her eyes. Very tolerantly reminded him with a patient, slightly-longsuffering smile that it IS just a Western story, it's not real, it didn't happen in real life.

Seeing the result of lifelong brainwashing is always disturbing.

[Blackjack]

1984 meet 2020

2020 may not have a global war but...

[lglethal]

Re: 1984 meet 2020

2020 may not have a global war yet

Trump is still in power until 20 January, and his current Scorched Earth policy, doesnt seem to be letting up. There's still time for him to trigger Armageddon...

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: 1984 meet 2020

TDS.

Trump is the first yank president to NOT invade a country in nearly a century.

China OTOH is pushing acceleratingly hard for war. It is currently invading and has seized territory in India, Philippines, Vietnam, etc and is conducting increasingly frequent airspace incursions of Japan and Taiwan.

[Graham Cobb]

Which appstores?

I'm interested in which appstores they have banned, and can't find the list. As I don't use the Play Store, I mostly use F-Droid - but other stores that China doesn't like sound like fun places to check out!

[tony72]

Re: Which appstores?

From the Chrome-Translated CAC announcement; "At the same time, for the non-implementation of audit requirements, the rapid download of illegal and illegal applications, 7755app, New Vision, Win House, Pippi Bus, 7230 hand games, software emperor, dmfuns and other 8 app stores, according to law to take measures to stop downloading services."

[bombastic bob]

Re: Which appstores?

fortunately, it's possible to install APKs directly on 'droid phones, without an 'app store', unless the CCP has mandated this be taken away... [at which point jailbreaking and other such techniques are in order]

And there's still a Tor network. And there's still private web sites popping up all over the place.

"The Great Firewall" is like putting a lock on the liquor cabinet, to stop your teenage son from occasionally sipping. And it's probably a cheap lock, meaning that 10 seconds with a tweeker screwdriver and a bent paperclip will get you as much liquor as you could possibly want...

I understand that in the USSR of the 1980s, people could get pretty much anything they wanted through the black market, with chocolate and Levis jeans being two of the more popular items. Is _THIS_ what the CCP really wants? Or are they planning on getting "a piece of the action" ??

[doublelayer]

Re: Which appstores?

It depends. They could crack down on those as they have been doing to some success in the past, or they could just push an application to phones that does a little audit of what the phone's used for. Russia's going that way; China must have considered it. Of course, there's also the possibility that they don't have to; just analyze the user's network activity and, if they use any of the apps you don't like, decrement the credit score accordingly.

[Qumefox]

Re: Which appstores?

The great firewall doesn't have to be 100% effective at blocking things. Just monitoring network traffic is enough since the use of private encryption is banned in China. So basically if someone in China owns a device and there's data flowing in and out of it in any fashion that the CCP can't decrypt and monitor, then that alone is enough for people to have a significant chance of 'disappearing'. so that makes Tor and the likes moot.

[Rich 2]

"...in response to citizen concerns..."

"...in response to citizen concerns..."

This is almost funny. There are certainly advantages for a government to be a heinous amoral dictatorship; they can just make shit up, kill or lock up any of their "concerned citizens" that dare to complain and then go on to to shout at other, less dictator-like governments, that they have no right to block their global spy network (plus lots of other more serious shit that they get up to).

Blimey - our government is a complete shower, but I don't generally fear for my life on a daily basis for posting a comment on el Reg. It really makes one feel grateful for the shower that we have, rather than the abhorant evil devils we could have.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: "...in response to citizen concerns..."

Chinese diaspora in Australia often get rung, messaged, or visited by local Chinese officials to be warned not to post "lies", should they eg post unpalatable facts or views on Western websites.

Should they not "correct" and "improve" their behaviour, their family at home gets, progressively, a warning visit, then arrested, then all but the mother are released with a stern warning to the release-ees that they should talk to their child and maybe the mother can be freed.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: "...in response to citizen concerns..."

China's COVID-19 lockdowns prominently featured very large red banners hung off every 2nd or so building:

"If you leave your house, we will break your legs.

If you talk back to us, we will break your teeth."

[Mark Exclamation]

They'll be banning them all so they can make their own versions. Competition in China? Ha!