Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016

Post by brandall10 » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #115

gonehome wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think these things have a corrupting influence on the principles of the company over time: https://zalberico.com/essay/2020/06/13/zoom-in-china.html It's better to figure out an exit (imo) than continue to capitulate on these kinds of things, particularly in a country that is hostile to foreign companies and IP (and particularly if one of your company values is the privacy of your users). --- >>Peter Thiel: Well I…

Not disagreeing with what Thiel is saying here, but it's pretty hypocritical for him to be criticizing here considering he's the co-founder of Palantir, a company that feeds some tasty tasty morsels to the surveillance state and military-industrial complex.

Post by hyperpallium2 » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #77

ipv6ipv4 wrote: post #50

Daring Fireball [1] has another passage from the article which is illuminating with regards to any promises Apple makes about how it will resist governmental pressure to compromise its products, vis-à-vis Apple's CSAM scanning tool. "Sometime in 2014 or early 2015, China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping told members of the Apple Maps team to make the Diaoyu Islands, the objects of a long-running territorial di…

Anyone who has worked in mapping/GIS at a company that sells in China has seen this in action. The "display these islands larger" requests, the obfuscated coordinate system for geo-aligning maps, and other map content regulatory issues[1] all need to be dealt with if you want your map product available in the country. Not excusing it, but every company with maps there is required to do this, not just Apple. 1: https:…

Post by i_have_an_idea » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 10:02 PM UTC

ipv6ipv4 wrote: post #129

i_have_an_idea wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple has, and will, fold to government pressure faster than a lawn chair. So will any company, when threatened by China. And, btw, so will most countries. Yes, Apple has a lot of money, but they're in no position to resist a powerful country. I don't think it's fair to expect that of them.

So Apple shouldn't build a mass surveillance tool that it knows it will be coerced to misuse.

Post by brandall10 » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 10:03 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #24

gonehome wrote: post #14

Apple’s approach to China remains the most disappointing (and hypocritical) thing about the company. When privacy really matters for the users that need it most, Apple sells them out for continued access to the Chinese market. https://stratechery.com/2021/the-information-on-apple-in-chi...

I assumed it was firstly access to Chinese manufacturing. They can probably still make humongous profits without the Chinese market, but presumably their global sales rely on first manufacturing in China?

Post by oblio » Wed, Dec 08, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC

zpeti wrote: post #39

echelon wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Reddit comment [1] on this same article really hit home, > Mr. Cook has watched China's middle class grow to four hundred million while watching the domestic middle class shrink. Like GM, which sells more cars in China than the USA, Apple knows where the market opportunities reside. America needs growth again, whether that's immigration, childbirth and childcare subsidies, or seeking to merge with other democratic…

Which subreddit is that from? Seems like rare comment content for Reddit.