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A comment on Google, Apple cave to Pakistan pressure to take down apps by Ahmadiyya Muslims. Parent comment

Re:Google, Apple cave to Pakistan pressure to take down apps... by LiberatedLlama on Friday February 05, 2021 @04:09PM (#26041228)
> But if they choose to stop doing business in Pakistan, what would become of all of their existing customers?

What happens to Pakistani users of Debian, if Debian doesn't do business in Pakistan? Nothing. Those users are fine. iOS users would be in a bind only because Apple chose to create a system where users are left high-and-dry if/when Apple decides to no longer do business in any country.

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Re:Google, Apple cave to Pakistan pressure to take down apps... by sjwright on Friday February 05, 2021 @05:08PM (#26041836)
A somewhat disingenuous argument. Debian isn’t physical hardware.
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Re:Google, Apple cave to Pakistan pressure to take down apps... by LiberatedLlama on Friday February 05, 2021 @05:45PM (#26042171)
It's not selling physical hardware that binds Apple here; it's having an app store that requires the cooperation of national government to process payments. Pakistan could forbid Apple from opening Apple Stores in Pakistan, but Pakistanis would likely still be able to purchase apple products through resellers and/or black/graymarkets. And if iOS were not locked to Apple's authoritarian app store, oppressed ethnic minorities in Pakistan could distribute software through through their preexisting covert channels.
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