时间:2025-04-03 10:28:32 来源:网络整理编辑:綜合
Google and Apple are under pressure from human rights groups and a U.S. senator to remove from their
Google and Apple are under pressure from human rights groups and a U.S. senator to remove from their stores an app called Absher. The app was created by the Saudi government and includes a feature that helps men monitor and control women who are under their guardianship, including wives and unmarried daughters.
Saudi men have this right thanks to the country's oppressive guardianship laws, which mandate every woman has a male guardian to make critical life decisions on her behalf. That guardian can be a father, brother, husband, or son, according to Human Rights Watch. So men get the power to approve things like whether a woman applies for a passport, studies abroad, travels outside the country, or gets married. That system was already well in place before Absher'’s debut, but the app makes controlling women much more efficient.
SEE ALSO:Senators demand answers from Facebook, Google, and Apple over now-banned ‘research’ monitoring appsWhile Absher was released in 2015, it's prompted new scrutiny. One woman pursuing asylum recently indicated that she tried to flee the country without being detected by Absher and her male guardian. In order to travel, women must be granted permission through the app. Many can't make it far because the app alerts guardians every time their dependents use their passports, according to Insider.
Now human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, are urging Apple and Google to remove Absher from their app stores.
Tweet may have been deleted
"By permitting the app in your respective stores, your companies are making it easier for Saudi men to control their family members from the convenience of their smartphones and restrict their movement," Wyden wrote in a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Cook replied vaguely when asked about the app during an NPR interview this week. "I haven't heard about it," he said. "But obviously we'll take a look at it if that's the case."
Google told CNN the company would be "looking into it."
Even if Google and Apple remove the app from their stores, it won't solve the problem of male guardianship. As columnist Mona Eltahawy pointed out on Twitter, the app simply "enables gender apartheid in #Saudi Arabia, remember that it is male guardianship that is the issue here."
Tweet may have been deleted
Still, activists believe Apple and Google could send a powerful message to the Saudi government by dropping Absher.
Hala Aldosari, an activist and scholar who studies gender in the Arab Gulf states, told the New York Times: "If the tech companies would say, 'You are being oppressive,' that would mean a lot."
TopicsAppleGoogleSocial Good
This German startup wants to be your bank (without being a bank)2025-04-03 10:26
官方:蘭帕德成為埃弗頓新帥 雙方簽約至2024年2025-04-03 10:26
全力爭勝 !國足對陣越南大概率推出攻擊型戰陣2025-04-03 10:22
奧巴梅揚滿麵笑容離開巴薩 拉波爾塔興奮到直揮拳2025-04-03 09:48
This company is hiring someone just to drink all day2025-04-03 09:01
範誌毅神預言成真 :中國足球臉都不要了 再下去要輸越南了2025-04-03 08:56
卡薩諾:尤文8160萬買鋒霸也沒用 踢法保守難爭四2025-04-03 08:45
國足評分 :徐新最高戴偉浚第二 顏駿淩唯一不及格2025-04-03 08:35
Airbnb activates disaster response site for Louisiana flooding2025-04-03 08:27
慘案締造者!李霄鵬大年初一遭越南完爆 被釘在恥辱柱上了2025-04-03 08:05
Wikipedia co2025-04-03 10:26
艾克森送春節祝福:祝球迷朋友們鴻福齊天萬事如意2025-04-03 10:25
馬競拒絕租莫拉塔給巴薩 球員將留守尤文至賽季末2025-04-03 09:55
浙江隊官宣喀麥隆前鋒埃沃洛加盟 2021賽季中甲打進14球2025-04-03 09:00
We asked linguists if Donald Trump speaks like that on purpose2025-04-03 08:50
慘案締造者!李霄鵬大年初一遭越南完爆 被釘在恥辱柱上了2025-04-03 08:50
韋世豪:跟日本隊比賽出球困難 正常發揮肯定贏越南2025-04-03 08:42
官方:熱刺1000萬歐租尤文飛翼 含3500萬買斷條款2025-04-03 08:31
Aly Raisman catches Simone Biles napping on a plane like a champion2025-04-03 07:51
斯洛文尼亞國腳親承收中國球隊邀約 :幾小時內決定未來2025-04-03 07:44