Apple has allegedly begun removing Iranian iOS apps from the App store

Apple has allegedly begun removing Iranian iOS apps from the App store(techcrunch.com)

82 points by nemtaro 9 years ago | 23 comments

nemtaro 9 years ago |

Perhaps this explains why:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-res...

http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperit...

artmageddon 9 years ago | |

Those are links to a whole other issue that deserves its own discussion. Why not the following from the article itself:

"However the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury puts blocks on this market. According to Techrasa, Apple has sent the following to Iranian startups attempting to upload apps:

“Unfortunately, there is no App Store available for the territory of Iran. Additionally, apps facilitating transactions for businesses or entities based in Iran may not comply with the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations (31CFR Part 560) when hosted on the App Store. For these reasons, we are unable to accept your application at this time. We encourage you to resubmit your application once international trade laws are revised to allow this functionality.”

guitarbill 9 years ago | | |

This. Apparently, it's shocking and newsworthy that Apple adheres to US law, and moves to rectify situations where they have been misled:

"While there is no official App Store available for the territory of Iran, many companies registered their apps as being outside of Iran to be able to get onto the store."

maxxxxx 9 years ago | |

I hope I am wrong but if I read this correctly it's like the Iraq resolution in 2002 that gave the president the right to attack anytime. This can be used as bargaining in negotiations but also as rationale to go to war.

finid 9 years ago | | |

I know that there are many in this country and elsewhere around the world that believe the USA is a peace-loving country.

mythrwy 9 years ago | | |

I hope you are wrong but fear you might not be.

edblarney 9 years ago | |

That bill is not passed yet and will take some time.

Also - a lot of bills are introduced that have no chance of passing. If it's coming from Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnel - then it's likely primary GOP policy, outside of that there are tons of things that nobody votes for.

Apple I think will comply with whatever laws the are legally bound by.

Since it's not law, I don't think that it's the issue here.

I don't see Apple doing anything pre-emptively, or as a favour to any politically partisan group.

I suspect there is either a misunderstanding, or we don't have the whole story.

imron 9 years ago | | |

> I suspect there is either a misunderstanding, or we don't have the whole story.

I suspect it's the law directly referred to in the article: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/31/560.204

cixin 9 years ago |

Interesting. Looks like the Google Play store was also embargoed at one point:

‪http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/28/4669004/google-opens-play-...

I wonder what exactly is going on. Trump administration looking for ways to put pressure on Apple?

toast0 9 years ago | |

When google play was embargoed, android developers in Iran (and elsewhere) could publish apks on their websites to distribute to users inside Iran. When the apple app store is embargoed, you have to work a lot harder :(

CodyReichert 9 years ago | |

Well he does use an Android, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was 100% correct.

imron 9 years ago | | |

Yes, I'm sure it's that, rather than say Apple making sure it conforms to existing (e.g. pre-Trump) U.S. law /s

See: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/31/560.204

virtuabhi 9 years ago |

Disgraceful

imron 9 years ago | |

Are you referring to Apple's actions, or the 2012 law that prohibits them from supplying (directly or indirectly) goods, technology, or services to Iran:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/31/560.204

nodesocket 9 years ago |

This was posted yesterday, and I flagged it then, and I'm flagging it now. TechCrunch has a reputation of writing opinion stories without doing the proper research or due diligence. With their reputation in mind, I'm going to say this is false news, without sources and confirmations.

Don't believe me? See TechCrunch absurdities written by Megan Rose Dickey who is a self proclaimed reporter at TechCrunch focused on diversity, inclusion and social justice. How she still has a job is beyond me. If this were the other way around, a white male writing like she does he would be blasted as a sexist, and racist and socially shamed into oblivion.

- Dear White People, You Suck At Diversity (https://techcrunch.com/2015/12/13/dear-white-people-you-suck...)

- Twitter doesn’t have quite as many white employees as it did last year (https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/twitter-doesnt-have-quite-...)

- GitHub’s diversity is just as bad as the rest of Silicon Valley’s (https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/26/githubs-diversity-is-just-...)

eridius 9 years ago | |

You just said she's a reporter who's focused on diversity, and the 3 headlines you quoted look like they're focused on diversity. Without having read the articles, just reading your comment, it kind of looks like she's actually doing her job.

true_religion 9 years ago | | |

Oh she writes articles alright---terrible poorly researched articles that aim only to light fires under people, and draw numerous eyeballs to Techcrunch.

At this rate, she'll never be fired.

nodesocket 9 years ago | | |

Fully expect to be downvoted, but that's an absurd topic to have at TechCrunch. She's just feeding the constant outrage machine.

hiddencost 9 years ago | |

For folks interested in some actual reading material so they can understand an incredibly complex topic, I like pointing folks to "The New Jim Crow".

The parent is a troll. Your time is better spent educating yourself than educating the parent.