Russia bans the JWLibrary app

[Tortuga]

[Dages]

Always more... grrrr

[Miss Bea]

Another poke in Jehovah’s eye!

[Tortuga]

I hope this can be used in Russia.

https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share&prefer=content&applanguage=E&locale=en&item=pub-mwbv_202009_4_VIDEO&docid=1011214

[dove]

I'm confused...didn't they ban this a long time ago, or am I thinking of jw.org...and why wouldn't they have banned everything at the same time instead of leaving access to anything...

[SUNRAY]

No worries..Jehovah will provide! 

[Intercore]

I'm not sure how exactly JW Library can just stop working because of this ban. How it can be banned? Can someone "techie" could explain this? I understand about jw.org, but not about the app.

[Tortuga]

5 minutes ago, Intercore said:

I'm not sure how exactly JW Library can just stop working because of this ban. How it can be banned? Can someone "techie" could explain this? I understand about jw.org, but not about the app.

I wonder if the Russian brothers and sisters were still using the app to play videos and songs so the government banned the app.

 

If the government blocks the internet access then the app won't receive new songs, videos or anything.

 

I hope we get more details about this.

[Eejay]

The government can force internet service providers and telecoms companies to block access to a specific IP address.

People get round it by using VPNs, but it is all risky.

[On the huh]

There will be ways to around this, but it is probably best not to discuss them.

[Thesauron]

There will be ways to around this, but it is probably best not to discuss them.

That’s right. Jehovah’s will is more powerful than Russian authorities.

[Tortuga]

4 hours ago, Miss Bea said:

Another poke in Jehovah’s eye!

They are poking the eye of the creator of time and space. Wrap your head around that and it's just an inkling of how foolish they are.

[jwhess]

I would think that the "ban" is on possessing the app.  If you had banned literature on your tablet, you could be arrested and sentenced to prison.  So now, even if the material on your app is not prohibited by law, having it on the app is prohibited.  Even if you already had it on your phone and you had the material downloaded and did not need the internet to get to it, now just having it is illegal.

Edited April 1, 2021 by jwhess

[carlos]

3 hours ago, Intercore said:

I'm not sure how exactly JW Library can just stop working because of this ban. How it can be banned? Can someone "techie" could explain this? I understand about jw.org, but not about the app.

I don't think this ban means the app will stop working. Actually the app doesn't even need internet access to work. New content can be downloaded by other means and added to it. It's the same as when they banned other publications. It's not that the publications stopped working but that anyone caught with it can be fined or sent to prison.

 

[Paulo]

2 hours ago, jwhess said:

I would think that the "ban" is on possessing the app.  If you had banned literature on your tablet, you could be arrested and sentenced to prison.

I think the same. A VPN would allow to easily work around any internet blockage.

[Qapla]

While a VPN may allow a way to access the site and keep the JWL app updated - it wouldn't stop a cop from asking for your phone and finding the app and arresting you - they don't have the freedom to tell the cop "No" when he asks for the phone

[Paulo]

2 minutes ago, Qapla said:

While a VPN may allow a way to access the site and keep the JWL app updated - it wouldn't stop a cop from asking for your phone and finding the app and arresting you - they don't have the freedom to tell the cop "No" when he asks for the phone

That is exactly the reason I said that I think it would be a ban on possessing the app and not a simple internet blockage, that a VPN would work around.

[J500]

5 hours ago, Intercore said:

I'm not sure how exactly JW Library can just stop working because of this ban. How it can be banned? Can someone "techie" could explain this? I understand about jw.org, but not about the app.

So most likely it would be the App Store (iPhone's / iPads) controlled by Apple and the Play Store controlled by Google (Android phones) who will remove the apps by request of the government. When these stores remove the app from their listing, the store software in all our phones will remote uninstall.

 

Here is an example:

https://www.pagalparrot.com/chinese-government-removed-4500-gaming-apps-from-app-store/

 

of course as someone mentioned there are ways around this.

[Tortuga]

4 minutes ago, J500 said:

When these stores remove the app from their listing, the store software in all our phones will remote uninstall.

I didn't know that..

[J500]

26 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

I didn't know that..

If you want more info, Apple apparently has had this ability since 2008 as reported by  forensic analysis on an iPhone 3G:

https://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/06/apples-ability-to-deactivate-malicious-app-store-apps/

 

Not sure if this is exactly what has happened in Russia but if Apple wants to blacklist an App and "remote uninstall" it that way, they can do it.

[Sheep]

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/#newsAlerts

 

What a bunch of cowards. Afraid of a little app?

 

Brothers and sisters in Russia are already taking their chances. They own and keep in their homes "banned" literature. They want to keep spiritually strong now—so that they will be spiritually strong when they are arrested. They figure it's better than the alternative… avoid taking chances now and being spiritually weak when that time comes.

[Intercore]

5 hours ago, carlos said:

I don't think this ban means the app will stop working. Actually the app doesn't even need internet access to work. New content can be downloaded by other means and added to it. It's the same as when they banned other publications. It's not that the publications stopped working but that anyone caught with it can be fined or sent to prison.

 

I also think that way but there was said that "users having difficulty accessing the app", so I thought why.

[Paulo]

Both of our tablets are android and do not have google services installed due to the sactions on huawei.

Never had any problem to install the app.

https://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/android/manually-install-jw-library-android/

[shali]

If the brothers tick the "Offline Mode" in settings, then no one will ever know they are using the app.  The problem comes if they try to download something new or update the app without that setting being checked. The app will automatically try to update as soon as you start it if you don't. So they can still keep the app and use it and authorities wouldn't know, they just can't update or download with it.  All the more reason to get everything you can into that app (buy a memory card if you have to!).

 

No doubt, if houses are raided and brothers are caught with this app on any of their devices, it would give the government reason to give them harsher sentence also.  I think this move on their part to ban the app shows how desperate they are - they haven't been able to break anyone with all the raids, beatings, tortures, interrogations, prison sentences, house arrests, or freezing of their bank accounts - so they think this will be the final blow that will weaken their faith and get them to renounce Jehovah and become Russian Orthodox.  Again, they failed to reason that no matter what you take away from them, you can't take the Sovereign of the Universe away from them, he is there for them at any moment of any time - no more powerful support than that.

Edited April 2, 2021 by shali

[Thesauron]

If the brothers tick the "Offline Mode" in settings, then no one will ever know they are using the app.  The problem comes if they try to download something new or update the app without that setting being checked. The app will automatically try to update as soon as you start it if you don't. So they can still keep the app and use it and authorities wouldn't know, they just can't update or download with it.  All the more reason to get everything you can into that app (buy a memory card if you have to!).
 
No doubt, if houses are raided and brothers are caught with this app on any of their devices, it would give the government reason to give them harsher sentence also.  I think this move on their part to ban the app shows how desperate they are - they haven't been able to break anyone with all the raids, beatings, tortures, interrogations, prison sentences, house arrests, or freezing of their bank accounts - so they think this will be the final blow that will weaken their faith and get them to renounce Jehovah and become Russian Orthodox.  Again, they failed to reason that no matter what you take away from them, you can't take the Sovereign of the Universe away from them, he is there for them at any moment of any time - no more powerful support than that.

There are many other ways, but it is unnecessary to talk about them. When you need to use them, you will get instructions.