Russia presses Apple to install Kremlin-approved apps

Once Apple complies, the next law is:<p>Now let our apps have special privileges on your phones or you can&#x27;t sell it here.<p>(Emboldened.)

Does anyone know how much Russian iPhone says are worth to Apple?<p>Also interesting to know would be much the iPhone platform is worth to Russian app developers if they can no longer buy Apple hardware to test&#x2F;develop against?<p>If both of these figures are small then it could well in Apple&#x27;s interests to just abandon sales in Russia.<p>Since, from the article, this proposed law would only cover sale of new devices those really motivated would still be able to buy abroad.

<i>If</i> Apple trusts the security of its own operating system, it should be able to sandbox the apps just like any other app.<p>While the US doesn’t force companies to install apps, it does force companies to support E911 and the system used for Amber alerts and other mandated alerts.

IMHO, the proper answer to such government behavior should be - to tell them, to suck off apple pure out of tetra pak.

<i>Do you want to allow “Приложение бэкдор ФСБ” to access your location?</i>

While I personally strongly dislike the law discussed in the article, I find the title misleading.<p>Taken at face value, the law, as approved by the Russian parliament [1], is, ostensibly, designed to improve the experience of the local customers (who, annoyingly, are depicted as too clueless to know how to install the applications they want). It is introduced under the rubric of &quot;protecting customers rights&quot;, demands that smartphones, PCs and smart TVs come with pre-installed local software, and surely, surely, could be spun under a different narrative: an adorably humanist one, concerned with tailoring to the local language and culture (which might have been chosen by the left-leaning commentariat if it were about a small country obsessed with preserving its national identity), or a cynically economical one, focused on protecting local jobs.<p>Again, I am not defending the law — I find it offensive towards the customers who have to delete all that pre-installed crap. I am just amused by the tone that the Economist has chosen to present this news.<p>1 - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sozd.duma.gov.ru&#x2F;bill&#x2F;757423-7" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sozd.duma.gov.ru&#x2F;bill&#x2F;757423-7</a>, in Russian

This very worrying, particularly because Apple recently caved in and marked Crimea as Russian...

Unpopular opinion.<p>Putting all the conspiracy theorists aside the intent of the law is actually to gain what western countries have a new phone that has localized apps that non-English speakers can use.<p>For some apps, like twitter, translation of the ui is enough for some others local apps are just better.<p>Knowing how laws are being implemented in Russia it is hard to tell what this will turn out into, most operators already wrote an open letter to the president to not sign the law, but it was still signed.<p>So I see it more as an attempt to created isolated marked similar to china one rather than total surveillance scenario.

The point of law is not to force backdoors but to counter monopolies.<p>Google devices come with Google maps, search and so on. When people get new devices, often they will stick to whatever is pre-installed.<p>Russia is probably on of the few countries that has perfectly capable alternatives, like Yabdex. So now people will have an option to choose what to use - Google, Apple or yandex apps.<p>Obviously owners of the platforms (apple and Google monopolies) are not to happy to lose control.<p>That of course does not mean that Russian government won&#x27;t try to force some fishy stuff on devices. Ukraine is completely separate and orthogonal issue.<p>See Matt Stoller&#x27;s take on the broader issue - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mattstoller.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;how-russian-antitrust-enforcers-defeated" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mattstoller.substack.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;how-russian-antitrust-enf...</a>

&gt;Local digital-rights activists like Artem Kozlyuk are worried, saying that these apps could “secretly collect information: location, tools and services being used and so on”.<p>Technically impossible.<p>&gt;The apps can be deleted, but only if users know to do that<p>Like any other app.<p>&gt;and there are suspicions that they might leave behind backdoors into users’ phones after they are gone.<p>Technically impossible.<p>I can&#x27;t read the rest of the article. What are the apps about?