No more engraving these words on your iPhones!
A new report from BBC suggests Apple getting controlled by China in its offered services.
On Wednesday, Aug. 18, BBC reported that Apple will pose censorship on its engraving services. This was first noticed by Citizen Lab, a research laboratory in Toronto, Canada. According to the report, Apple decided to censor words, phrases, and names to “ensure local laws and customs are respected.”
Unfortunately, this was not the interpretation of Citizen Lab. They allege that the Cupertino-based company is being careful not to offend Chinese parties with their services.
Apple engraving services restriction
If you have been using Apple devices, you would know that engraving certain names on devices are possible. Just go to the Apple website and find the engraving services. The said service is being offered to allow Apple users to become creative and make their devices more personalized.
All devices have each of their prices for engraving your name on the device. Unfortunately, the engraving services of Apple might be changing for the next years to come.
In a report from BBC, Apple confirmed that engraving on their devices may now be stricter than before. According to Citizen Lab, they investigated Apple’s censorship on the said feature.
They found out that specific names of Chinese politicians are now restricted to use for the specific service. The censored words also included racist phrases, sexual quotations, etc.
The report revealed that over 1,100 keywords are now filtered on the Apple engraving service. What is surprising, however, is the fact that the highest number of censored words will be coming from China and its nearby areas.
Chinese words censored
The research showed that 1,045 keywords are blocked in mainland China, 542 in Hong Kong, and 397 keywords in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the United States only has 170 to 260 words censored keywords. This is a similar number with Japan and Canada.
BBC’s first example of the censored word is “umbrella revolution.” This was the historic 2014 Hong Kong protests wherein Hong Kong protesters marched on the streets to fight for the promised “universal suffrage.”
Other than this, words like freedom of the press and pro-democracy movement are also banned from being engraved on Apple.
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, engraving the name of historic Mao Zedong is also restricted. Basically, most of the phrases and words have connection to China, as per the report.
“Apple does not fully understand what content they censor,” CitizenLab alleged. “Rather than each censored keyword being born of careful consideration, many seem to have been thoughtlessly reappropriated from other sources.”
Is Apple following commands from China?
Though Citizen Lab did not conclude Apple as getting commands from China, the team noted that tech companies, especially Apple, have the biggest assets coming from China.
Thus, suggesting that Apple could be making good impression on China with its new rules.
Apple Chief Privacy Officer Jane Horvath explained that these allegations were not true. She testified that the censored words or phrases are based on the “values” of Apple in protecting everyone’s culture and dignity worldwide.
She also added that “To a large degree, this is not an automated process and relies on manual curation.”
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