Comment by sneak
5 years ago
Google refused to censor search in China, and got the GFE blocked by the GFW.
Later they bent over backwards to get back in with a special censored search (Project Dragonfly) which got "cancelled" due to western and employee backlash (but wasn't really), continued a bit in secret, then really cancelled (so it was reported).
Also, Qwest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Nacchio
Google also allows app sideloading which is something that becomes critical during civil unrest in the countries mentioned in the article.
Sideloading also allows authoritarian regimes to add apps to your phone. See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/chinese-border...
As opposed to not sideloading which... does exactly the same thing.
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/16/apple-to-offer-governme...
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Yes, it's a double-edged knife, but let's keep in mind that the government actually has enough power to spy its citizens without tampering the devices, with the social networks, cell locations...
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Yeah, despite not as free as common linux distributions (can Android even be considered Linux at all?), it is the better choice in these kind of situations.