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Comment by curt15 | Hacker News Reader

>Permanent removal from China would probably be worse for freedom in China over 20 years

How does Apple advance freedom in China?

Spyware is routinely found preinstalled on Chinese branded phones, and Chinese border guards will install spyware on tourists' Android phones. iPhone users are much better protected from this stuff.

1: https://www.cyberscoop.com/android-malware-china-huawei-zte-...

2: https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/03/spyware/

Spyware is also found in iOS in China via iMessage so what’s your point?

If we don’t talk about zero day vulnerability, which may be used by government to spy citizens, iMessage is end to end encrypted and secure.

Chinese local chat app like WeChat, or customized Android from Xiaomi or Huawei, they have back doors, which allow Chinese gov access data directly.

Spyware from unintentional vulnerability vs. intentional back doors are different.

If your phone is backed up to iCloud, and your phone (or iCloud account, it's not clear) has the region set to China, then your messages are most likely accessible by the Chinese government, because Apple's cloud services are operated by a Chinese company in China, and Chinese companies don't have the option of resisting information requests from the government.

I'm presuming a local company would be even more willing to bend than Apple is, and would do so more often.

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