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Apple has been accused of removing apps from its China App Store that can be used to skirt the country's Internet filters. Above, customers at an Apple Store in Beijing in 2016. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

Apple has been accused of removing apps from its China App Store that can be used to skirt the country's Internet filters. Above, customers at an Apple Store in Beijing in 2016.

Updated at 5:56 p.m. ET

There are iPhone apps that make it possible to get around China's notorious Internet filters. And on Saturday, makers of those apps said Apple had removed their products from its App Store in China.

It would be another sign of Apple's willingness to help Beijing control its citizens' access to the Internet.

The apps create virtual private networks connecting a user to the Internet via an encrypted connection. In China, VPNs can be used to skirt the government's extensive system of internet controls, sometimes called the "Great Firewall."

"We received notification from Apple today ... that the ExpressVPN iOS app was removed from the China App Store," app maker ExpressVPN said in a blog post. "Our preliminary research indicates that all major VPN apps for iOS have been removed."

"We're disappointed in this development, as it represents the most drastic measure the Chinese government has taken to block the use of VPNs to date, and we are troubled to see Apple aiding China's censorship efforts," the company added.

ExpressVPN, which says it is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, posted a screenshot of the notice from Apple that its app "includes content that is illegal in China."

Another company, Star VPN, tweeted that its apps were also removed from the China App Store.

In an email to NPR, Apple said: "Earlier this year China's MIIT announced that all developers offering VPNs must obtain a license from the government. We have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations. These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business."

The New York Times reports that Internet crackdowns in China tend to happen about every five years, timed to precede an upcoming congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The Times notes that China is Apple's largest market outside the U.S. In December, Apple pulled the Times app from its app store in China.

ExpressVPN says its apps for other operating systems remain accessible and that it's possible (though it's not easy) for Chinese users to create an account to access another country's App Store, if they list a billing address elsewhere. If they can do so, they can still download VPN apps for the iPhone.

The government's focus on cutting out VPNs is said to be taking other forms, as well.

"A southern China data-services company with over 160 clients said it received orders last week from the Ministry of Public Security, which runs China's police forces, to cut off access to foreign providers of VPNs," The Wall Street Journal reported. "Those orders came days after a luxury hotel in Beijing, the Waldorf Astoria, said in a letter to guests that it had stopped offering VPNs 'due to legal issues in China.' " The newspaper noted that it was unusual for Apple to remove several apps at once.

Apple announced earlier this month that it's building a new data center in Guizhou its first in China that will comply with new Chinese cloud storage regulations. It's part of a $1 billion investment in the southwestern province.

Bloomberg reports the tech company's market share has "fallen as consumers wait for an updated iPhone 8, which is likely to be released later this year, or switch to cheaper Android devices."

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Apple Accused Of Removing Apps Used To Evade Censorship From Its China Store - NPR

North Korea has increased efforts in recent years to prevent outside information from entering the country.

But international activists say technology and outside forces will one day lead to the end of state censorship.

North Korea is one of the most disconnected nations in the world. The country has a ban on foreign media. Most people do not have access to the Internet. The Transitional Justice Working Group reports that the government has even executed citizens for sharing media from South Korea. The group researches human rights abuses in North Korea.

North Korea is following a similar method to other authoritarian governments, observers in Cuba and Myanmar say. Cuban and Burmese leaders of organizations that have fought censorship in their own countries recently met in Seoul to share their experiences with Koreans doing similar work.

Cuba

In Cuba, as in North Korea, there is a growing demand for foreign movies and television programs. This has made the business of illegally bringing in outside information increasingly profitable.

Rafael Duval is with Cubanet, an independent news organization that fights government restrictions in Cuba.

Cubanet uses devices such as USB drives and DVDs to spread a weekly collection of foreign videos and other materials. The collection is called "El Paquete" "the package" in English. Cubanet delivers the materials through the black market a system through which things are bought and sold illegally.

Duval says it is the job of some Cuban officials to prevent foreign media from entering the country. But many of them accept illegal payments in exchange for not reporting the sharing of media. And many officials often use foreign media themselves, he adds.

Another project helps Cubans who have email accounts find out information from the Internet. About 25 percent of Cubans have access to email.

The project, called Apretaste, connects Cubans with volunteers in places like the U.S. state of Florida. Cubans can email questions to the volunteers. The volunteers then send them the Internet search results. The organization responds to more than 100,000 requests for information each month.

Myanmar

Myanmar is another country where the free exchange of information has increased. Before the countrys democratic reforms in 2011, the military government closely controlled the Internet.

But its loose border with Thailand, along with a rise in satellite television receivers in the country, brought change. This change made it easy for exiled opposition groups to get around the governments restrictions on media.

North Koreas growing black market

The North Korean economy has grown in recent years, even with international sanctions placed on the country because of its continued missile tests.

In the past year, the countrys gross domestic product rose 3.9 percent. The Bank of Korea in Seoul says the increase was driven in part by the exports of coal and other minerals.

But there is also a private market in the country that is driving economic growth. The communist government lets it operate, but does not officially approve of it.

A recent study says that most North Koreans now earn about 75 percent of their money from the black market. The study was done by the Beyond Parallel project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

The illegal export of North Korean fish, shoes, cigarettes and cooking oil has given has given people new buying power. This power makes it possible for them to bring in outside information and technology.

Nat Kretchun is deputy director of the Open Technology Fund. The project is supported by Radio Free Asia, or RFA. RFA and VOA are each part of the U.S. government-supported Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Kretchun says technology like televisions and DVD players are now ubiquitous -- or seemingly everywhere -- in North Korea.

The number of legal North Korean mobile phone users has also grown in recent years. Many North Korean cell phones were able to spread unapproved media and information. But recent changes to the phones operating systems added censorship and surveillance technology.

Kretchun says the technology blocks unapproved media files from being used on North Korean phones.

However, activists are developing technology of their own in response to government actions.

Kim Seung-chul is a North Korean who fled to South Korea. He created North Korea Reform Radio, which sends anti-government messages to the North.

Kim feels the South Korean government should offer more support to groups working to get into North Koreas closed information environment.

The South Korean government, conservatives, veterans and famous people have a lot of money, but they do not use the money for this. They get angry about North Koreas situation, but they do not act, Kim said.

Im Pete Musto. And I'm Ashley Thompson.

Brian Padden and Youmi Kim reported this story for VOA News. Pete Musto adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. How long do you think it will be before North Korea becomes more open? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

censorship n. the system or practice of examining books, movies, or letters in order to remove things that are considered to be offensive, immoral, harmful to society

authoritarian adj. not allowing personal freedom

black market n. a system through which things are bought and sold illegally

account(s) n. an arrangement in which a person uses the Internet or e-mail services of a particular company

sanction(s) n. an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country

gross domestic product n. the total value of the goods and services produced by the people of a nation during a year not including the value of income earned in foreign countries

communist adj. used to describes a person or people who believe in a way of organizing a society in which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products and there is no privately owned property

ubiquitous adj. seeming to be seen everywhere

surveillance n. the act of carefully watching someone or something especially in order to prevent or detect a crime

veteran(s) n. someone who fought in a war as a soldier or sailor

Read more:
Activists Say Censorship in North Korea Will Not Last - VOA Learning English

Yesterday it was Hamburg. Today or tomorrow it could be anywhere else in Germany.

As I chronicle below, there have been a dozen terror-related incidents in Germany since January 2016, indicating that the problem may be at a tipping point as the number of fatal terror attacks in Western Europe has exploded in just the past few years.

And many of the recent problems are refugee-driven.

The attacker who killed one and injured seven at a supermarket in Hamburg Friday while shouting "Allah akbar" was a Palestinian born in the UAE who was in the country illegally and was scheduled for deportation.

He entered the country in 2015 during the massive rush of Syrian migrants, during which 900,000 entered the country.

Video taken at the scene of yesterday's attack shows him being taken under arrest and fending off the bystanders who subdued him:

Local media reported that the attacker was an Islamist already known to German authorities:

Link:
Germany's Refugee-Driven Terror Problem Out of Control After a Dozen Incidents Since Jan 2016 - PJ Media

Silicon Valley Business Journal

Laurene Powell Jobs' group buys control of The Atlantic Silicon Valley Business Journal Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective has agreed to buy control of The Atlantic, the magazine that her group's namesake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, helped to create 160 years ago. David G. Bradley, chairman of Atlantic Media, plans to keep a minority stake ... Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs' widow, makes splashy media dealNew York Post David Bradley is selling the Atlantic magazine to Laurene Powell Jobs's nonprofitWashington Post Laurene Powell Jobs, Philanthropist and Widow of Steve Jobs, Just Took Over The AtlanticGizmodo The Atlantic -Axios -Emerson Collective all 137 news articles »

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Laurene Powell Jobs' group buys control of The Atlantic - Silicon Valley Business Journal

Dave Sullivan places his ballot in a ballot box outside of the downtown Spokane Library on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. COLIN MULVANY colinm@spokesman.com (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)

If you havent voted yet and I dont have to be Carnac the Magnificent to know most of you havent it might be because you dont know enough about those unfamiliar names on the primary ballot.

An off-year election like Tuesdays primary is the kind that frequently draws new blood to the body politic. If Congress and the White House campaigns represent the Major Leagues of politics, city council and school board primaries might be like the Spokane Indians.

Most of these candidates will never make an appearance in the political equivalent of Safeco Field, but that doesnt mean they arent worth checking out now.

That can be more difficult than last year, when newspapers, airwaves and social media were overflowing with election coverage. But there is a website that will give Spokane-area voters some useful background information on candidates for municipal office.

CandidateVerification.org is a nonprofit with a bipartisan board, many of them veterans of different political battles. It asks candidates to submit to the kind of background checks that any employer might do on a potential employee a multi-state criminal check going back 10 years, a nationwide check of sex offender registries, plus county and federal civil records. It also verifies any education and employment history a candidate lists on a resume.

When the checks come back, the candidate is asked to give permission for the group to post the results online.

Lots of organizations ask candidates to supply information or fill out questionnaires, and the response is often spotty. Republican candidates dont respond to left-leaning groups and Democrats ignore right-leaning ones. And some candidates get so many questionnaires they refuse to do any.

By itself, CandidateVerification has no clout, Executive Director David Doud said. But a diverse array of groups rely on its background checks enough that candidates seeking support are either required or encouraged to sign up.

Its the pressure of our partners that really drives the process, Doud said.

That includes groups as different as the Spokane Home Builders and Spokane Realtors, faith-based We Believe We Vote, and Amplify, the new name for Progressive Majority of Washington.

Arthur Whitten, of the Home Builders, said the group requires a background check before it will endorse a candidate, and finds them especially helpful this year.

There are so many of these first-time candidates, he said. Its like endorsement insurance for our members.

Penny Lancaster, of We Believe We Vote, said the organization doesnt require it, but does recommend candidates get the background check. Those who do get extra credit in its rundown of where they stand on key issues. We appreciate what they are doing, she said.

E.J. Juarez, of Amplify, said they encourage candidates, especially new ones, to get the background checks so they know whats out there. The checks can reveal small mistakes in their resume, like a date thats off for an education certificate or job they held. It can also let a candidate know that information about a bankruptcy or that they dropped out of college could come up in a campaign.

Its not a game of gotcha, Juarez said. Its about helping people put their best foot forward and be honest with voters.

CandidateVerification has been concentrating on Spokane races lately, so its 2017 database currently has many of the primary candidates for local municipal offices as well as a smattering of other Eastern Washington candidates. They have to draw the line there, Doud said, because at $100 to $200 per background check, they dont have the money for school board or fire commissioner candidates. All their money comes from donations.

Doud hopes to grow the database in the period between the primary and the November general election.

The Spokesman-Review has compiled all of its coverage of the primary races in its Election Center. Go to http://www.spokesman.com and click on Election 2017 in the box just a little way down from the top of the page.

Spokane County Elections also has an online voter guide for primary candidates.

How did I know that most people reading this column havent cast their primary ballot?

Well, it mightve been an educated guess based on the fact primary elections in off years always have more people who dont vote than people who do. I could have gone with that under the not my first rodeo rule of political science.

But being a responsible journalist, I checked with the Spokane County Elections Office on Friday afternoon. It was reporting less than 14 percent of the ballots it sent out have come back.

Blaming the low numbers on a lack of information may be overly charitable. But it sounds better than saying voters are too lazy to put down their chilled beverage, get out of the hammock and mark the ballot.

Ballots must either be postmarked or deposited in a drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Read more here:
Spin Control: Washington group checks candidate backgrounds for voters - The Spokesman-Review