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.