Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
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Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#2VPN apps are completely different than what happened with the FBI unlocking request last year.
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#3Easy for China to threaten seizure of Apple's manufacturing capabilities. Shareholders won't like that. When something doesn't make sense, follow the money.
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#4Good advice I got once: not every surface is a slippery slope.
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#5I don't see how there's much Apple can do here they are a technology company not a world power
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#6I'll repost my comment from the other thread that got flagged for being a dupe:
They absolutely stake out moral positions on issues like this all the time. The difference is they only do it in the West where rule of law prevails and they can actually exert influence.
They've done it with various anti-LGBT efforts that have taken place around the US, they've done it with the fight with the FBI and they're doing it right now in Australia [1], among others.
What they don't do is shoot themselves in the head in some misguided attempt at ideological purity.
Also this seems absurd to me:
>The company has not fully tested its political and economic leverage in China. It hasn’t tested the public’s immense love of its products. It hasn’t publicly threatened any long-term consequences — like looking to other parts of the world to manufacture its products.
If China's authoritarian regime is objectionable then do what countries have always done in history: isolate them economically, diplomatically or politically. Try to foment and support an insurgency or revolution or just invade them yourselves. I'm not sure anyone is willing to risk nuclear war to bring democracy to China but those are your options. Apple isn't a vessel for anyone's foreign policy objectives and it isn't a substitute for the state.
[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/20/apple-talks-australian-...
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#7As much as I dislike Apple, they made the right choice here. While it may be easy to praise Apple's stance against FBI backdooring the iPhone's secure boot and condemn their compliance with removing VPN apps from the Chinese app store, the latter policy is completely unlike the former for several good reasons. With the Chinese market, you need to choose your battles.
Removing VPN apps from the Appstore does not compromise the privacy of any Apple users, and does not prevent existing users of these apps from continuing to use them on their devices. I would imagine Cook fought pretty hard to protect the privacy of Apple users to get this concession from the Chinese censors. For comparison, on Android, China is forcing users in Muslim regions to install apps that scan for "terrorist content" and track user activity.
https://thinkprogress.org/china-muslim-surveillance-policy-c...
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#8I'll repost my comment from the other thread that got flagged for being a dupe: They absolutely stake out moral positions on issues like this all the time. The difference is they only do it in the West where rule of law prevails and they can actually exert influence. They've done it with various anti-LGBT efforts that have taken place around the US, they've done it with the fight with the FBI and they're doing it rig…
The big issue is that they'd actually have to shoot themselves in the head: they can't exist in China without giving into things like this. And Tim Cook can't keep his job if he decides to leave his 1st (or 2nd, depending on the quarter) largest market for moral reasons.
I'm not really sure if its a rule of law issue (though China definitely has problems there). One problem is that western companies generally must follow the law in China because they are easy to make examples of while their lawyers won't sign off on anything "shady." Chinese companies, however, have no such limitations, and will bend the rules all the time, often with minimal consequences.
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#9Easy for China to threaten seizure of Apple's manufacturing capabilities. Shareholders won't like that. When something doesn't make sense, follow the money.
China would probably never go that far. At best, they would just cut off the retail market in China and leave it completely to the 黄牛 yellow cow scalpers like it was 10+ years ago.
Re: Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
#10Absurd article. Why is this special to Apple? Why can US govt not take a stance and ban all chinese articles from their country?