I’ll begin this with an editorial comment: JUST SAY NO to pressure from the People’s Republic to censor. But businesses care more about the profit potential in China, so will bow to the regime’s whims in return for market share. Sad, pathetic, and pitiful. Now Apple has jumped into the game, blocking apps related to that subversive of all subversives, the Dalai Lama. More:

“Apple appears to have blocked iPhone applications related to the Dalai Lama in its China App Store, making it the latest U.S. technology company to censor its services in China.

Those apps, which appear in most countries’ versions of the App Store, do not currently appear in the Chinese version. Another app related to Rebiya Kadeer, who like the Dalai Lama is an exiled minority leader reviled by China’s authorities, is unavailable in the China App Store as well. The apparent censorship comes after carrier China Unicom launched iPhone sales two months ago, making regulatory approval of the phone’s contents in the country necessary for the first time.

‘We continue to comply with local laws,’ Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in an e-mail when asked about the missing apps. ‘Not all apps are available in every country.’

At least five iPhone apps related to the Dalai Lama are unavailable in the China store. Some of those apps — named Dalai Quotes, Dalai Lama Quotes and Dalai Lama Prayerwheel — display inspirational quotes from the Tibetan spiritual leader. Another, Paging Dalai Lama, tells users where he is currently teaching. A fifth app, Nobel Laureates, contains information about Nobel Prize winners including the Dalai Lama.”

When you represent the global information superhighway, is it really compatible with your values to participate in the repression of free speech?

(Photo by Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)