"Apple, which often positions itself as a champion of privacy and human rights, is

-- a company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party," reports the

blog:

Engadget adds that it's "not clear" whether or not Tencent is actually collecting IP addresses from users outside of China. ("You'll

, but that doesn't mean it's scooping up info from American web surfers.")

But

points out that the possibility is troubling, in part because Safari is the #1 most popular mobile internet browser in America, with

.