China: iPhone is Threat to National Security
It looks like Apple's healthy appetite and ego may just have to swallow a punch below the waistline that can add new factors to California-based company's happy equation of bright perspectives for the most fast-growing market in the developing world. One of the main Chinese broadcasters labeled iPhone as a threat to national security, something unexpected but quite logical after China put a lid on another US product, Win 8, in state and financial organizations.
The iPhone got its new status in China due to its location and time-tracking feature that traces users' location in real time, stores them in the cloud and time-stamps them. China Central Television aired a report about iPhone's Frequent Locations feature and concluded it was a data 'gold mine' for transnational corporations.
The report also referred to the last year's Edward Snowden revelations of the US National Security Agency mass surveillance and major tech corporations close ties and cooperation with the spy agency.
According to Reuters, the reporter interviewed a researcher who said the kind of data collected by iPhone could 'reveal an entire country's economic situation and even state secrets.' 'This is extremely sensitive data,' said the researcher.
Apple did not comment on the broadcasting, but that would not be the first time Cupertino-based company is under fire in China. On several occasions, the Chinese state media criticized Apple for poor customer service and accused the company of sharing user data with the NSA and other surveillance agencies demanding 'severe punishment.'
As of now, Apple's share of China's smartphone market accounts for mere 7%, according to IDC research firm. Nevertheless, the 7% make it the fifth largest vendor with aggressive intentions to dominate the high-end segment.
Location tracking function is by far not the only feature criticized in China. Discriminating warranty practices and hazardous labor conditions at Apple factories in China have long been the issue of national animus against the US company, and even reached the US soil. Back in April, a mass Bad Apple campaign gathered more than 17.000 signatures in protest of dangerous chemicals poisoning of young Chinese workers assembling iPhones. Over 1.5 million people work in factories that supply Apple production group, and even after some superficial inspections, the labor conditions are still hazardous, poisoning hundreds or maybe thousands of young Chinese people with benzene, n-hexane and the likes. So, no wonder China does not really like Apple.
In China, Apple is not the only American company under scrutiny for its predatory practices. Google services have been shut down for over a month, and Microsoft's Win 8 is banned from governmental institutions for security reasons while IBM and Cisco Systems also experienced a significant backlash after Snowden surveillance revelations.
Sources: IBTimes, Reuters, Green America.
