linkedinRussian authorities have required Apple and Google to remove the LinkedIn app from the App Store and Google Play in Russia, reports The New York Times. The move comes a couple weeks after Russia blocked LinkedIn's website.


The demand by Russian authorities to remove LinkedIn in Apple and Google app stores comes weeks after a court blocked the professional networking service for flouting local laws that require internet firms to store data on Russian citizens within the nation’s borders.

Apple confirmed to The New York Times that it was asked to remove the app from the App Store about a month ago. The app, however, had already stopped functioning once LinkedIn's website was blocked in the country. LinkedIn, which has several million users in Russia, said it was "disappointed" by the news.

The service was blocked in Russia because a court ruled in November that the company broke local laws that require Internet firms to store servers holding information on Russian accounts within the country. The New York Times notes that most American companies operate in Russia while violating the law, making the blocking of LinkedIn a rare occurrence.

In late December, China required Apple to remove all apps from The New York Times for being in "violation of local regulations." The New York Times' website has been blocked in China since 2012. Countries like China, Russia and Turkey have blocked direct access to websites for years, but pressuring tech companies like Apple to also remove apps is a more recent trend, according to The New York Times.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

pika2000 Avatar
81 months ago
How broke is the Russian government when it needs linkedin to help them keep tabs on the citizenry?
How broke is the American government that it needs backdoors from all the tech companies to help them keeping tabs on the citizens?
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jess13 Avatar
81 months ago
And remember what NSA and GCHQ do to unsuspecting LinkedIn members.


How to Detect Sneaky NSA ‘Quantum Insert’ Attacks

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/researchers-uncover-method-detect-nsa-quantum-insert-hacks/

How Quantum Insert Works

According to various documents leaked by Snowden and published by The Intercept and the German newspaper Der Spiegel, Quantum Insert requires the NSA and GCHQ to have fast-acting servers relatively near a target’s machine that are capable of intercepting browser traffic swiftly in order to deliver a malicious web page to the target’s machine before the legitimate web page can arrive.

To achieve this, the spy agencies use rogue systems the NSA has codenamed FoxAcid servers, as well as special high-speed servers known as “shooters,” placed at key points around the internet.

In the Belgacom hack, GCHQ first identified specific engineers and system administrators who worked for the Belgian telecom and one of its subsidiaries, BICS. The attackers then mapped out the digital footprints of chosen workers, identifying the IP addresses of work and personal computers as well as Skype, Gmail and social networking accounts such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Then they set up rogue pages, hosted on FoxAcid servers, to impersonate, for example, an employee’s legitimate LinkedIn profile page.

The agencies then used packet-capturing tools that sniffed or sifted through internet traffic—which can occur with the cooperation of telecoms or without it—to spot footprints or other markers that identified the online traffic of these targets. Sometimes the fingerprints involved spotting persistent tracking cookies that web sites assigned to the user.

When the sniffers spotted a “GET request” from a target’s browser—messages sent by the browser to call up a specific URL or web page such as the user’s LinkedIn profile page—it would notify the NSA’s high-speed shooter server, which would then kick into action and send a redirect or “shot” to the browser. That shot was essentially a spoofed Transmission Control Protocol ('http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/T/TCP.html') (TCP) packet that would redirect the user’s browser to a malicious LinkedIn page hosted on a FoxAcid server. The FoxAcid server would then download and install malware on the victim’s machine.


Thanks, Snowden. “Thanks,” Obama.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
britboyj Avatar
81 months ago
You know this mainly about Russia falsely being accused about hacks.
You need to try a different news source than Facebook and Breitbart.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheColtr Avatar
81 months ago
It's ironic that companies won't keep information of Russian citizens, but I'm sure if the US government went to LinkedIn that the company would hand every bit of data they had on everyone to the government.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zombie Acorn Avatar
81 months ago
How broke is the Russian government when it needs linkedin to help them keep tabs on the citizenry?
I hope you aren't a US citizen.
[doublepost=1483756113][/doublepost]
It's ironic that companies won't keep information of Russian citizens, but I'm sure if the US government went to LinkedIn that the company would hand every bit of data they had on everyone to the government.
They already have, the US government has worked with all of these social media companies to "catch terrorists".
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KiwiAdventure Avatar
81 months ago
I don't like LinkedIn its like a virus and infiltrates everywhere.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2023 Event Taking Place June 5 to 9

Wednesday March 29, 2023 9:58 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 34th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will take place from Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9. Like WWDC 2020, 2021, and 2022, WWDC 2023 will be an online event for the most part, and it will be open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple will provide online sessions and labs, which will allow...
iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Low-Energy Chip to Allow Solid-State Buttons to Work When Device is Off or Out of Battery

Wednesday March 29, 2023 1:54 am PDT by
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will use a new ultra-low energy microprocessor allowing certain features like the new capacitive solid-state buttons to remain functional even when the handset is powered off or the battery has run out, according to a source that shared details on the MacRumors forums. CAD-based render of new solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models The source of this rumor is ...
CarPlay Phone Call

General Motors to Phase Out Apple CarPlay Starting This Year in EV Transition

Friday March 31, 2023 8:43 am PDT by
General Motors (GM) will phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in its vehicles starting this year, shifting to a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google (via Reuters). GM owns Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC in the United States. It will stop offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto starting with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer, which goes on sale this summer. The company plans ...
iPhone 15 Pro Multi Purpose button Mute Switch Feature Green 2

iPhone 15 Pro Rumored to Feature Multi-Use Action Button Instead of Mute Switch

Wednesday March 29, 2023 7:28 am PDT by
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are rumored to feature a customizable Action button like the Apple Watch Ultra, according to a MacRumors forum member who leaked accurate details about the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models last year. The source claimed the Action button will replace the Ring/Silent switch that has been included on every iPhone model since 2007. They did not...
iOS 16

iOS 16.4 Now Available for Your iPhone With These 8 New Features

Friday March 31, 2023 8:55 am PDT by
Following six weeks of beta testing, iOS 16.4 was released to the public this week. The software update includes a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone 8 and newer. To install an iOS update, open the Settings app on the iPhone, tap General → Software Update, and follow the on-screen instructions. Below, we have recapped eight new features and changes added with iOS 16.4,...
iOS 17 on Phone Feature

Three New iOS Features Coming to Your iPhone Following Apple Music Classical

Thursday March 30, 2023 7:13 am PDT by
With the Apple Music Classical app and an Apple Pay Later early access program now available, the list of previously-announced iOS features that have yet to launch is beginning to shrink. However, there are still a few features we are waiting for. Below, we have recapped three more iOS features that are expected to launch in 2023, including an Apple Card savings account for Daily Cash,...
apple mixed reality headset concept by david lewis and marcus kane

Kuo: Apple Mixed-Reality Headset May Not Appear at WWDC as Mass Production Pushed Back Yet Again

Thursday March 30, 2023 4:50 am PDT by
Apple has again pushed back mass production of its mixed-reality headset and the device may not appear at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said. Apple headset concept by David Lewis and Marcus Kane In a tweet, Kuo explained that Apple "isn't very optimistic" about whether the headset will be able to create an "iPhone moment." As a result,...