William Gallagher
Senators who claim that Americans are at risk of somehow buying apps using China's digital yuan currency, have introduced a bill to show they're doing something about it.
Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Mike Braun (R-IN) have launched the Defending Americans from Authoritarian Digital Currencies Act, which would prevent app stores hosting apps that use China's digital yuan currency,
"The Chinese Communist Party will use its digital currency to control and spy on anyone who uses it," insists Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) in a statement. "We can't give China that chance— the United States should reject China's attempt to undermine our economy at its most basic level."
"It makes no sense to tie ourselves to the digital currency of a genocidal regime that hates us and wants to replace us on the world stage," Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) said in the same statement. "This is a major financial and surveillance risk that the United States cannot afford to make."
"The Chinese Communist Party's digital yuan allows direct control and access to the financial lives of individuals," explains Senator Mike Braun (R-Indiana). "We cannot allow this authoritarian regime to use their state-controlled digital currency as an instrument to infiltrate our economy and the private information of American citizens."
The full bill runs to fewer than 400 words and entirely fails to explain the reasoning behind its claims.
AppleInsider analysis
This bill is aimed specifically at protecting Americans who somehow use this digital yuan currency to buy apps from Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store from within the US. It presumably also covers in-app purchases, and it's reasonable to presume that there is a great deal of financial activity in this currency — in China.
Whether in China or the US, however, any individual's app or in-app purchase goes to Apple and Google. Whether the app advertises it in digital yuan or US dollars, the transaction goes via these two companies.
While the digital yuan is on China's version of the blockchain, it's still not clear how the Senators believe that China could determine an individual US citizen's financial situation, even if that citizen were somehow able to buy from the Apple's Chinese version of the App Store. More data can be gleaned about a customer by IP address, and browsing habits.
This could be another example of how so many in the US government are considering and passing laws that drastically affect technology firms, while exhibiting extraordinary ignorance of the issues.
However, it's more likely that the bill is just grandstanding, showing an electorate that politicians are doing something. Expect more of this on the road to the November midterms.
Andrew O'Hara
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
8 Comments
Apps aren't the only thing people may buy using China's digital currency. Any American who wants to do business in China may be forced to use that currency when they travel to China. Apple does lots of business in China, don't forget. Apple employees who travel to China would all be impacted.
Also, if third party app stores become something that Apple has to allow, how is Congress going to enforce their current proposal? That would be impossible. It's possible only if the App Stores are controlled by the device manufacturers.
As I see this, this is them wanting to be 'seen to be doing something' rather than just voting NO to everything or trying to impeach the POTUS.
All this when there are important things to be debated and laws passed but no... they want to spend time on things like this. This reeks of 'diversion'.
Perhaps they should add the Russian Rouble to the list of prohibited currencies but they won't.
I'm always shaking my head when I read stories like this because they can't just say The Chinese digital yuan. They always have to make sure they say "The Chinese Communist Party's digital yuan". That is their narrative that they feel the need to put out over and over again. And then they claim over and over again that the Democrat Party is a Communist Party which is of course a flat out lie. And then they can't seem to figure out whether it's a Communist Party or a Socialist Party because they say both which is slanderous name calling. Why not just stick to the issues instead of all of the name calling.