protest

Chinese youths smashing their iPhones in protest against U.S.

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Cult of Mac buyback
Apple is running into more problems in China.
Photo: Warren R.M. Stuart/Flickr CC

Tim Cook has been open about the fact that he views China as Apple’s future biggest customer, but right now it sure seems like the company can’t get too many breaks there.

Not only has Apple had its products booted off the list of approved state purchases in China, been forced to shut down its iBooks Store and iTunes Movies in the country, and been sued for broadcasting an obscure patriotic movie from 1994, but now young people are reportedly smashing their iPhone to protest U.S. foreign policy.

Pro-Apple protesters plan to swarm courthouse outside FBI hearing

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data privacy
Protesters in San Francisco line up with pro-privacy signs outside the downtown Apple Store in 2016.
Photo: Traci Dauphin/Cult of Mac

The FBI will be greeted by protestors when it faces off against Apple at the U.S. District Courthouse in Riverside, CA on March 22nd.

Fight for the Future — the same group that rallied at Apple Stores across the country last month — is organizing another protest against the FBI’s federal court order compelling Apple to weaken security in iOS so the government can hack the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone 5c.

Occupy Cupertino: Worker’s rights protestors storm Apple HQ

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Protestors blocked the door
Protestors blocked the door of Apple's flagship San Francisco retail store earlier this year. Picture: Julia Carrie Wong

More than 100 protestors — consisting of unionized security guards from San Francisco, fast-food workers and members of other unions — gathered at Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop headquarters yesterday to protest working conditions for service workers in Silicon Valley, where tech workers can strike it big, but other people struggle to get by.

The demonstrators brought with them a petition signed by 20,000 people, calling for Apple to lead a charge better working conditions not just at Apple, but in the Bay Area as a whole. They carried a sign reading, “Apple dodges taxes, we pay the price.”

Workers protest outside Apple Stores on iPhone 6 launch day

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Protestors blocked the door
Protestors blocking the door of Apple's flagship San Francisco retail store earlier this year. Picture: Julia Carrie Wong

In addition to the long lines of iPhone 6 customers, Apple Stores across the United States are going to see another group of people gathering today: protesting security workers.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is planning to stage protests at more than 20 different Apple Store in the U.S., pushing Apple to provide full-time work benefits for for its security officers.

“We are asking tech companies like Apple to support good jobs for workers who contribute to their success,” SEIU spokesman Alfredo Fletes told SFGate.

Apple’s own security guards stage protest outside San Francisco Apple Store

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Protestors blocked the door
Protestors blocked the door of Apple's flagship San Francisco retail store for around an hour. Picture: Julia Carrie Wong

A protest involving around 50 people blocked customers from entering the main doors of Apple’s flagship San Francisco Union Square retail store yesterday.

The protest was related to service employees claiming to be underpaid. Organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), they staged a sit-in for nearly an hour. While the Apple Store remained opened during this time, customers had to enter through a side door.

One of the protestors, describing himself as an Apple security guard, decried the firm for its lack of job protection. “If [security officers] miss a day of work, they don’t know if they’ll have the job the next day,” he told Business Insider.

Samsung Douches Up Australian Apple Store With Paid Galaxy Flashmob [Update]

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There's no chance Apple customers in Sydney will get a lie-in this morning.
There's no chance Apple customers in Sydney will get a lie-in this morning. Get it?

Jibes at the iPhone and its users clearly aren’t enough to attract the attention of Apple’s customers, so Samsung is taking a more direct approach. Today the Korean company sent a screaming flashmob equipped with big “Wake Up” signs to protest outside of an Apple retail store in Sydney, Australia.

These Raging Grannies Shake It Outside The Apple Store For Worker’s Rights [Interview]

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Raging Grannies protest outside the Palo Alto store Feb. 13
Raging Grannies protest outside the Palo Alto store Feb. 13

If you happen by the Palo Alto Apple Store Monday afternoon, that group of elderly women dressed in white dancing the robot to techno music on the sidewalk aren’t some funky flashmob.

They’re Raging Grannies, and they’re are mad as hell about worker conditions in China where Apple products are made.

Galvanized by a recent Mike Daisey story on NPR about Foxconn, they’re staging monthly protests outside the Palo Alto Apple store. They’ll be on the sidewalk grooving to bring more attention to Apple’s labor policies in China at 3 p.m. on March 12.

Apple Supplier Foxconn Got Hacked For The Lulz

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MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

As if Foxconn didn’t have enough to worry about with the protests today and labor conditions controversies of the past few weeks, it looks like their network servers suffered a huge security breach last night by a mischievous hacker group called SwaggSec that exposed the usernames and passwords of Foxconn’s clients and employees. What motivated the group to expose Foxconn’s vulnerabilities? Were they looking to make a statement on labor conditions?

Nah, they just wanted to screw with Foxconn for laughs.

Jailed Russian Blogger Tweets Instagram Pic from Police Van

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Protesters inside the police van via Instagram. Photo: Alexei Navalny.
Protesters inside the police van via Instagram. Photo: Alexey Navalny.

 

The smiling faces make it look like a rowdy night out, but this jubilant photo was snapped with an iPhone in the back of a Russian police van.

Yesterday, Moscow-based blogger Alexey Navalny was carted away by the authorities while documenting the massive protests following the country’s contested parlimentary elections.

“With my lads on the police bus. They all say hi,”  Navalny tweeted in Russian. An hour later, he posted another Instagram photo, this time a group portrait in the Izmailovo jailhouse of everyone arrested.