5 ms·

At this point you might as well kiss goodbye to the US tech industry as nobody overseas will by anything that has a US government mandated backdoored.

IBM 11y ago
I'm pretty sure if Congress passes legislation mandating it they can influence plenty of non-American businesses by withholding their ability to do business in the US.
- gboudrias 11y ago
  Thereby gaining... what exactly?
  - IBM 11y ago
    Law enforcement access in exchange for access to the biggest and wealthiest market in the world.
- throwaway2048 11y ago
  If they don't buy American products? I don't think so.
  - IBM 11y ago
    Do any of those businesses want to sell their products to Americans? Maybe they can sell different SKUs with those capabilities but they'll have to do it for every market they sell to because the US won't be the only government that will want backdoors.
    - pjc50 11y ago
      Indeed. This already works the other way round: companies selling into China have to comply with their "great firewall" requirements.
AndrewKemendo 11y ago
If that were true then Windows wouldn't have 87% of the desktop/laptop OS share worldwide [1]. [1] https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0 https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...
- EGreg 11y ago
  That's temporary. With their latest shenanigans, Russia, China and others are moving to their own Windows replacements. Who would want a foreign government having easy access to everything your government and people do?
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    I don't think so. So far the history of technology has proven that Balkanization doesn't last and that the markets gravitate toward a dominant technology (TCP, HTTP, Windows etc...). Your average everyday person doesn't care about back doors and that's where market share is. Governments accept some level of foreign penetration. The whole spy thing is just a complex game - trust me I know I played it.
pjc50 11y ago
Why do you think it would be legal to mention the existence of the backdoor?
- studentrob 11y ago
  If Apple doesn't come out of this high-fiving everyone, I think we can all guess

IBM 11y ago

I'm pretty sure if Congress passes legislation mandating it they can influence plenty of non-American businesses by withholding their ability to do business in the US.

gboudrias 11y ago
Thereby gaining... what exactly?
- IBM 11y ago
  Law enforcement access in exchange for access to the biggest and wealthiest market in the world.
throwaway2048 11y ago
If they don't buy American products? I don't think so.
- IBM 11y ago
  Do any of those businesses want to sell their products to Americans? Maybe they can sell different SKUs with those capabilities but they'll have to do it for every market they sell to because the US won't be the only government that will want backdoors.
  - pjc50 11y ago
    Indeed. This already works the other way round: companies selling into China have to comply with their "great firewall" requirements.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago

If that were true then Windows wouldn't have 87% of the desktop/laptop OS share worldwide [1]. [1] https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0 https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...

EGreg 11y ago
That's temporary. With their latest shenanigans, Russia, China and others are moving to their own Windows replacements. Who would want a foreign government having easy access to everything your government and people do?
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  I don't think so. So far the history of technology has proven that Balkanization doesn't last and that the markets gravitate toward a dominant technology (TCP, HTTP, Windows etc...). Your average everyday person doesn't care about back doors and that's where market share is. Governments accept some level of foreign penetration. The whole spy thing is just a complex game - trust me I know I played it.

pjc50 11y ago

Why do you think it would be legal to mention the existence of the backdoor?

studentrob 11y ago
If Apple doesn't come out of this high-fiving everyone, I think we can all guess