Gini Olom

Kamis, 10 Oktober 2019

After China Objects, Apple Removes App Used By Hong Kong Protesters - NPR

A protester in Hong Kong checks his phone for police activity during a protest against the government in Hong Kong's New Territories, in August. Aidan Marzo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Aidan Marzo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Apple has removed from its App Store a smartphone app used by Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to crowdsource the location of protesters and police, after Chinese state media suggested the tech giant was aiding "rioters."

Apple initially rejected the app last week, saying that it "encourages an activity that is not legal," and allows users to "evade law enforcement," according to its developers.

"Your app contains content - or facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity - that is not legal ... Specifically, the app allowed users to evade law enforcement."@Apple assume our user are lawbreakers and therefore evading law enforcement, which is clearly not the case.
— HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖 (@hkmaplive) October 1, 2019

Nonetheless, HKmap.live did briefly become available in the App Store before Apple announced Wednesday that it was being removed.

"We have learned that an app, HKmap.live, has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong," Apple said in a statement. "Many concerned customers in Hong Kong have contacted us about this app and we immediately began investigating it."

The app, it said, "has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement."

HKmap.live reportedly consolidates reports from social media and then uses the information to plot the locations of protests and such information as where police are using tear gas.

The protesters have staged months of protests in the former British colony, demanding universal suffrage and the right to choose Hong Kong's leadership. The level of violence has grown in recent weeks, with protesters wrecking store fronts and hurling gasoline bombs. Police have responded with tear gas, batons and, in some cases, live ammunition.

On Wednesday, an editorial that appeared in China's official People's Daily called out developers of HKmap.live for providing a "'navigation service' for the rioters."

"Apple chose to approve the app in the App Store in Hong Kong at this point," the editorial said. "Does this mean Apple intended to be an accomplice to the rioters?"

"[P]eople have reason to assume that Apple is mixing business with politics, and even illegal acts," it said. "Apple has to think about the consequences of its unwise and reckless decision."

Responding to Apple's decision to withdraw the app, its developers, who have not identified themselves because of security concerns, responded in a series of tweets on Thursday, reports The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English-language daily.

"We once believed the App rejection [was] simply a bureaucratic f up but now it is clearly a political decision to suppress freedom and human rights in Hong Kong," the developers said, according to the Post.

Although HKmap.live has been removed from Apple's App Store, it remains available on an independent website.

The Hong Kong unrest is a sensitive issue in Beijing and anyone seen as showing sympathy or support for the protesters has come in for sharp criticism.

Earlier this week, Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey touched off a heated controversy by tweeting support for the Hong Kong protesters.

Although he quickly deleted the tweet and expressed contrition, that didn't stop the Chinese Basketball Association from suspending its business dealings with the Rockets. Tencent, a Chinese media partner with the NBA in China, also ended a streaming deal worth $1.5 billion and China's state television said it would stop airing Rockets games.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/10/768841864/after-china-objects-apple-removes-app-used-by-hong-kong-protesters

2019-10-10 10:21:00Z
52780405656458

Wall Street Breakfast: First U.S.-China Trade Talks Since July - Seeking Alpha

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Wall Street Breakfast: First U.S.-China Trade Talks Since July Seeking Alpha
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4295869-wall-street-breakfast-first-u-s-china-trade-talks-since-july

2019-10-10 10:37:00Z
CAIiEJLYxrU6h8CNegjXm0Z5pfQqFggEKg0IACoGCAowkqEGMJBZMPHguwY

Apple removes Hong Kong protest app following Chinese pressure - Engadget

Trump reportedly makes concessions to China before trade talks - Aljazeera.com

With trade talks between the United States and China resuming this week, the US appears to have made some concessions that could help reduce tensions between the world's top two economies.

The New York Times newspaper reported that the US was considering issuing licences to American companies allowing them to supply non-sensitive components to Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. In May, US President Donald Trump had proposed to ban Huawei from buying parts and technology from US suppliers citing national security concerns.

But the paper, citing unidentified sources, says Trump gave the green light in early October for the issuance of licences to US companies to supply Huawei with some equipment.

The top negotiators from the two sides are set to meet on Thursday for the first time since late July to try to find a way out of a 15-month trade war that has forced companies to alter supply chains and been a drag on the global economy.

China is urging the US to stop what it described as unreasonable pressure on Chinese companies, including Huawei, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a news briefing in Beijing ahead of the talks.

Separately, the US is also considering a currency pact with China as part of a partial trade deal, the Bloomberg news agency reported, also quoting unidentified sources.

Tariffs that are due to increase next week could also be suspended as part of this deal, it reported.

The currency accord was something the US said had been agreed to earlier in the year before trade talks broke down. It is meant to be followed by further negotiations on core issues such as intellectual property and forced technology transfers, Bloomberg reported.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to lead the Chinese delegation in trade talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday and Friday in Washington, DC.

But just hours earlier, the upcoming talks were reportedly cut short by a day as lower-level discussions had failed to come to an agreement on key issues, unnamed sources told the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

One of the stumbling blocks was the issue of forced technology transfers, which the Chinese delegation refused to broach, SCMP reported.

The discussions concerning an interim deal come after the Trump administration this week further ramped up pressure on Beijing by blacklisting Chinese technology firms over their alleged role in oppression in the far west region of Xinjiang. The US also placed visa bans on officials linked to the mass detention of Muslims from the region.

At the same time, a fight over free speech between China and the US National Basketball Association (NBA), triggered by a tweet by the Houston Rockets general manager backing Hong Kong’s protesters, has underscored the tensions.

Tariffs are working: US

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that tariffs on Chinese goods and services are working as they are forcing China to pay attention to US concerns.

Ross said the US would have preferred not to implement tariffs against Chinese goods more than a year ago, which ignited a trade war that slowed global commerce and threatened decades-old systems, but added that it has forced Beijing into action.

"We do not love tariffs, in fact, we would prefer not to use them, but after years of discussions and no action, tariffs are finally forcing China to pay attention to our concerns," Ross said in a speech while on an official visit to Australia.

Without a significant breakthrough, Trump is set to raise the tariff rate on $250bn worth of Chinese goods by an extra five percent to 30 percent next Tuesday.

Further tariffs are scheduled to come into effect on December 15.

On Wednesday, a Chinese official said that the country was still open to reaching a partial trade deal with the US that may include large purchases of US commodities, but added that success was contingent on Trump halting further tariffs.

Ross added that the US was "not opposed" to trade with China but said that China's trade practices have "gotten worse" and that the country needed to abide by global trade regulations.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/trump-reportedly-concessions-china-trade-talks-191010015008793.html

2019-10-10 08:43:00Z
52780404540953

Apple pulls HKmap from App Store, the day after Chinese state media criticized its “unwise and reckless decision” to approve it - TechCrunch

Less than a day after Apple was criticized by Chinese state media for allowing HKmap in the App Store, the crowdsourced map app said it had been delisted. Its removal comes less than a week after Apple reversed its initial decision to reject the app, which provides information about the location of pro-democracy demonstrations, street closures and police activity (its website is still available).

After Apple allowed HKmap into the App Store, an article in the China Daily, a newspaper owned by the Communist Party of China, criticized the company, claiming that it enabled “rioters in Hong Kong to go on violent acts,” and adding that “Business is business, and politics is politics…Apple has to think about the consequences of its unwise and reckless decision.”

While the Chinese government has labeled protestors as violent, including through coordinated campaigns on social media, human rights groups like Amnesty International have documented multiple instances of police abuse against protestors.

HKmap’s creators tweeted the Apple claimed it endangered law enforcement and residents, and said they disagreed.

1. We disagree @Apple and @hkpoliceforce ‘s claim that HKmap App endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.#HKmap #HKmaplive #HK #Censorship

— HKmap.live 全港抗爭即時地圖 (@hkmaplive) October 10, 2019

The app’s developers added that “there is 0 evidence to support CSTCB’s [the Hong Kong Police Force’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau] accusation that HKmap App has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement.” They also noted that other apps containing crowdsourced information and public postings, including Waze, which is used by commuters to avoid traffic cameras and police, are still allowed on the App Store.

“The quoted Apple’s App Store Review Guideline is vague, does that include user-generated contents? We are sure there are contents ‘solicit, promote, or encourage criminal activity in Facebook, Instagram, Safari, Telegram, Twitter, Waze, Whatsapp, etc. at some point in time,” wrote HKmap’s developers.

Pro-democracy demonstrations began in March to protest a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, but have grown to encompass additional demands that center on Hong Kong’s ability to safeguard rights, including freedom of press and speech, under the “one country, two systems” policy that has been in place since it was returned from British rule to China in 1997.

This is the latest in several decisions made by Apple that have concerned pro-democracy observers and appear designed to appease the government of China, its third-biggest market by sales. Two years ago, it removed VPN apps from its App Store in China and within the last week has removed the Taiwan flag emoji from the iOS keyboard in Hong Kong and the app version of Quartz from the Hong Kong App Store, reportedly because of its protest coverage.

TechCrunch has contacted Apple for comment.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/09/apple-pulls-hkmap-from-app-store-the-day-after-chinese-state-media-criticized-its-unwise-and-reckless-decision-to-approve-it/

2019-10-10 06:32:18Z
CAIiEIDhmKj2GEY2iGG36S6YKu0qFAgEKg0IACoGCAowlIEBMLEXMOc_

Apple removes Hong Kong map app after Chinese criticism - The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Apple removed a smartphone app that allows Hong Kong activists to report police movements from its online store Thursday after an official Chinese newspaper accused the company of facilitating illegal behavior.

Apple Inc. became the latest company to come under pressure to take Beijing’s side against anti-government protesters when the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily said Wednesday the HKmap.live app “facilitates illegal behavior.” The newspaper asked, “Is Apple guiding Hong Kong thugs?”

Apple said in a statement that HKmap.live was removed because it “has been used to target and ambush police” and “threaten public safety.” It said that violated local law and Apple guidelines.

HKmap.live allows users to report police locations, use of tear gas and other details that are added to a regularly updated map. Another version is available for smartphones that use the Android operating system.

“We have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement,” said the Apple statement. “This app violates our guidelines and local laws, and we have removed it from the App Store.”

The Hong Kong demonstrations began over a proposed extradition law and expanded to include other grievances and demands for greater democracy.

Activists complain Beijing and Hong Kong leaders are eroding the autonomy and Western-style civil liberties promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997.

Criticism of Apple followed government attacks starting last weekend on the National Basketball Association over a comment by the general manager of the Houston Rockets in support of the protesters. China’s state TV has canceled broadcasts of NBA games.

People’s Daily warned Apple might hurt its reputation with Chinese consumers.

“Apple needs to think deeply,” the newspaper said.

Brands targeted in the past by Beijing have been subjected to campaigns by the entirely state-controlled press to drive away consumers or disrupt investigations by tax authorities and other regulators.

China has long been critical to Apple’s business.

The mainland is Apple’s second-biggest market after the United States but CEO Tim Cook says it eventually will become No. 1.

Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California, also is an important asset for China.

Most of its iPhones and tablet computers are assembled in Chinese factories that employ hundreds of thousands of people. Chinese vendors supply components for Mac Pro computers that are assembled in Texas.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.apnews.com/5fb64c1137ad45f284dc605ca7f9c321

2019-10-10 05:29:58Z
CAIiEACAnwpqTmNev_8CUnHrOFAqGAgEKg8IACoHCAowhO7OATDh9CgwvqGdAg

TransUnion says data on 37,000 Canadians may have been compromised - CBC.ca

The personal information of about 37,000 Canadians held by TransUnion may have been compromised this past summer, leaving both of Canada's credit monitoring agencies with data blemishes on their record.

The TransUnion incident is much more limited than the high-profile data hack at credit monitoring agency Equifax Inc. in 2017, which exposed the information of 147 million people, including about 19,000 Canadians.

TransUnion said in a statement Wednesday that someone fraudulently accessed its data through the use of one of its business customer's login credentials between June and July.

Company spokesperson David Blumberg said that while the investigation is ongoing, the company maintains that the fraudulent login was not a failure of its systems.

"The unauthorized access was not the result of a breach or failure of TransUnion's systems or our customer's system," he said.

Canadian Western Bank (CWB) confirmed that the credit report data was accessed through an account at its leasing division.

"In August, we learned that CWB National Leasing's account was illegally used by an unauthorized third party to perform unauthorized credit checks," said company spokesperson Maya Filipovic.

She said no personal information held by CWB National Leasing was taken, disclosed or misused in any way.

Type of personal information accessed

TransUnion did not disclose what kind of personal information was compromised by the fraudulent login.

A credit check by a bank or lender could give access to an individual's name, date of birth, current and former addresses, information on existing credit and loan obligations, credit repayment history and potentially their social insurance number.

TransUnion said it learned of the breach in August and has notified those whose information may have been accessed as well as the privacy commissioners.

The incident is the latest of numerous data breaches in recent years, including the Equifax breach. More recently, Capital One said in July that data of six million Canadians was hacked, including about a million social insurance numbers. Desjardins said in June that the data of about 2.7 million accounts was hit with a breach.

The problem is that no system is foolproof, said Hasan Cavusoglu, an associate professor of management information systems at the UBC Sauder School of Business.

"The reality is this is a moving target. Organizations are every day exposed to new type of attack vectors, new kinds of threat actors."

He said customers have little choice but to have their data held with TransUnion and Equifax.

"As long as you do some kind of transaction, your data will inevitably fall into these companies."

The two credit monitoring agencies collect a variety of financial data to help banks and other lenders figure out how reliably a customer might pay them back. The model means the agencies want to collect as much information as possible to clearly represent someone's credit worthiness, said Cavusoglu.

While breaches are impossible to rule out entirely, major financial institutions like credit agencies have significant incentives to keep the data safe, he said.

"Reputational damage as a result of these kinds of attacks is tremendous, let alone other kind of maybe regulatory sort of penalties as well as some legal costs associated with it. So they don't want that reputational damage."

Chicago-based TransUnion continues to look for ways to strengthen its defences against unauthorized access of any kind, and supports customers in efforts to protect their data, Blumberg said.

from Business - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2VtYjx3
via IFTTT
October 10, 2019 at 04:57AM

Kamis, 10 Oktober 2019

Sponsored Links

Tariffs are working: US

Type of personal information accessed