It's the latter - Apple will let the authorities access messages. Telegram will not. And simply blocking the Telegram website does not mean that the app won't continue to function in China. Which is why the authorities likely decided to launch a DDoS attack, so they could silence the human rights lawyers that were using it to communicate.
Well Apple backs-up iMessages by default anyway. So even if it is end-to-end, they still have a copy of everything on their servers, unless you disable the iMessage syncing.
Also, just like Whatsapp's "end-to-end" crypto, just because they use it now doesn't mean they can't disable it at any time without you being aware of it. That's the danger of proprietary closed-source software.
It's not a "let's promote Google" thing. It's a "let's show the authorities that they cannot block every site" thing. For most people, Tor does not work in China.
It is also important to deface the authorities and their partners' illegal, human rights-violated surveillance. Since Google yields to NSA (more or less), it is much better to replace it with so far innocent one... Let's show the coerced IT company that they should not assist the authorities with wrongdoing.
Thanks for your effort. It seems like duckduckgo is blocked according to the test: http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl=duckduckgo.com But if it is indeed accessible then do not bother accessing google search.
Blocked by the authority is annoying but under the surveillance of the authority is also sick. Do not lead the Chinese netizen into another villain's hand, thx!
