And in this case, "local laws" means the Chinese government's censorship of the Dalai Lama and Rebiya Kadeer.  According to IDG News Service, "Apple appears to have blocked iPhone applications related to the Dalai Lama [and Rebiya Kadeer] in its China App Store."

The article continues "'Given that Apple has cooperated with China before (by not distributing games), it's of course very likely that it's Apple, not the developers, that are preventing certain apps from appearing,' said one China-based app developer, who asked not to be named, in an e-mail."

Scores of companies doing business in China willingly comply with the Chinese Government’s incessent demands to halt the free flow of information into and out of China. Google censors its Chinese search results. Sony installed the infamous Green Dam Software on its computers for sale in China. And Cisco's aid has been paramount in the development of all sorts of censorship and tracking technologies, most notably the Great Fire Wall.

Yahoo! even helped the Chinese government send two Chinese journalist to the Laogai by providing details of their online activity to the government.  “Both journalists were serving ten year sentences in prison for using the web to promote democracy, and both were sentenced after Yahoo! disclosed their other online data to the Chinese government,”  ABC News reported.

Of course, these businesses cooperate with the Chinese government for access to one of the world's largest growing consumer markets (read $$$).  Yet, in doing so, these companies invariably aid in the repression of human rights and the freedoms of Chinese citizens. Sounds like a good reason to enact the Global Online Freedom Act.

For  more on China's censorship, click here.

The film industry and Chinese government have maintained a confusing relationship in the public eye for a considerable time.  Whether that is the result of Hollywood’s vocal attempts to stop the “ubiquitous and very cheap” nature of pirated DVD’s in mainland China, or China’s confusing and occasionally contradictory policies for filmmakers, is rather hard to say.  However, some recent actions by Chinese officials have led many to believe China is trying its hands at a new export:  censorship.  According to the BBC, before the start of this year’s Melbourne film festival, the local Chinese consulate called the executive director of the festival in an attempt to convince the director to pull the film “The 10 Conditions of Love” about exiled Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer.  When the festival decided to go ahead with the film, they were “subjected to an intense campaign of threats, intimidation and disruption” and “hackers managed to … mak[e] it appear that session tickets had been sold out.” 

Unfortunately, China’s attempts to censor international events is becoming an increasingly common occurrence.  When “The 10 Conditions of Love” was screened four times at the Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan, China threatened a tourism boycott.  And when the Frankfurt Book Fair, billed the “worldwide marketplace for ideas”, invited Chinese writers Dai Qing and Bei Ling to present at the fair, China demanded the writers be banned.

According to Dai Qing, "China is using its economic influence to threaten its trade partners in order to censor what they don't like.”