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| Dalai Lama apps blocked in China Apple apparently blocks Chinese downloads of iPhone software that features Tibetan spiritual leaderChinese users of the iPhone are unable to download applications related to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Buddhist Tibet, or Rebiya Kadeer, an exiled minority leader, after Apple apparently blocked them from its iPhone App Store in the country.The move suggests that Apple has followed Google in self-censoring content available in China, under pressure from the government.Apple does not maintain a single app store; there are different ones for each country, and Apple has the final say on what software appears in each.The iPhone was launched in China two months ago on the carrier China Unicom. The apps for the Dalai Lama and for Kadeer are available in most countries, according to the news service IDG.In a statement to IDG, an Apple spokeswoman, Trudy Muller, said: "We continue to comply with local laws. Not all apps are available in every country."IDG says at least five iPhone apps related to the Dalai Lama are unavailable in the China store. Some – Dalai Quotes, Dalai Lama Quotes, and Dalai Lama Prayerwheel – display inspirational quotes from the Tibetan spiritual leader. Another, Paging Dalai Lama, tells users where he is currently teaching. A fifth, Nobel Laureates, contains data about Nobel prize winners, including the Dalai Lama.English-language searches on the Chinese iTunes store made from outside China display two applications and a number of English-language education downloads relating to the Dalai Lama. However, using Chinese characters for the search produces no results.IDG says searches on iPhones displayed at the Apple Store in Beijing this month returned no results for the term Dalai. Nor did results appear in searches done with a computer on iTunes after switching the country selection to China.The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 but remains widely revered among Tibetans. The Chinese authorities have dismissed him and blamed him for violence that has flared in Tibet.China has taken a hard line with western governments or organisations that deal with the Dalai Lama and have attempted to freeze him out of any discussion in the west about Tibetan self-determination.China operates rigorous censorship of the internet, having told Google that a condition of operation in China was that it would block access to information about so-called "dissident" groups – including the Dalai Lama. It operates a widespread filtering system that aims to prevent the dissemination or discovery of information about such groups, and others such as pro-democracy organisations.Kadeer is an exiled leader of China's Uighur minority group and is similarly reviled by Chinese officials and state media. An iPhone app named 10 Conditions, based on a documentary about her life, did not appear in test searches of the App Store in China.James Boldiston, the developer of the app about Kadeer, told IDG he had submitted the app for all countries' app stores. Other developers told IDG they could not recall if they had excluded China but most had other apps for sale in the China store.One developer based in China told IDG: "Given that Apple has co-operated with China before [by not distributing games], it's of course very likely that it's Apple, not the developers, that are preventing certain apps from appearing."Boldiston and other developers of the missing items said Apple had not told them their apps were unavailable in China."I didn't know the app had been pulled and wasn't informed," James Sugrue, who designed the Dalai Quotes app, told IDG. "Apple reserves the right to do this sort of thing and, while from a censorship point of view I disagree with this, I can understand why they did."Dalai LamaChinaCensorshipFreedom of SpeechHuman rightsTibetRebiya KadeeriPhoneAppleCharles Arthurguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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