5 ms·

Apple secrecy is bitter fruit on Hill

14 points by jamesbritt 16y ago

hga 16y ago
How come I have difficultly reading those two comments by Senators as anything more than a thinly veiled "Nice company you have here, it would be a shame if anything happened to it." It would be ironic if D.C. brings Apple down; they may think they're safe with Gore on their board but I wonder how much juice he has nowadays, with AGW having at best perception problems (for better or worse, the truth doesn't matter WRT to how D.C. views and treats things).
- jamesbritt 16y ago
  "Leave the gun. Take the iPad."
- bradleyland 16y ago
  It's like a chapter out of an Ayn Rand novel. I almost can't believe my eyes.
  - hga 16y ago
    There's a whole lot of truth in her novels: she was born in 1905 and grew up and was educated in Russia/the Soviet Union, she saw this all first hand. E.g. the confiscation of her father's pharmacy, her being purged from her university just before graduation since she wasn't a Communist (in a Communist country being a party member is a privilege and they certainly wouldn't have accepted a class enemy like her, had she been so inclined to try), etc. (Complaints from visiting foreign scientists allowed a few, including her, to eventually graduate.)
jamesbritt 16y ago
Here's something that really caught my eye: When Apple didn’t participate in an April hearing on children’s online privacy, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, gave voice to his suspicions. "When people don’t show up when we ask them to ... all it does is increases our interest in what they’re doing and why they didn’t show up," Rockefeller said of Apple and Google, which both declined to testify. "It was a stupid mistake for them not to show up, and I say shame on them." Wow. So, when you're, you know, "asked" to appear, you better damn well appear, or become a target.
- JoelPM 16y ago
  No kidding. When I read Rockefeller's comment I couldn't help but think of a spoiled child who didn't get his way. I don't think it's hard to figure out why they didn't show up: they didn't see any value in what was happening.
  - barrkel 16y ago
    That's how democracy works, alas.
- CapitalistCartr 16y ago
  Extortion, If you play the game of the American country, doing your job and are successful, but you ignore Inside the Beltway, they come looking for you. They are predators, who seek power as their feast.
drivebyacct 16y ago
I hate what Apple's doing and I'm a HUGE Android fanboy, but this seems way out of Congress's jurisdiction or list of important things.
mrshoe 16y ago
While Apple’s success has earned rock-star status in Silicon Valley, its low-wattage approach in Washington is becoming more glaring to policymakers. This to me sounds like senators saying, "We see that you're making a ton of money, and we want our cut." I'm glad Apple doesn't spend much money on lobbying (see http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-lobbying-spending-for-tech-companies-2010-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-lobbying-spe...). If the government starts intentionally causing problems for them with the intent of forcing them to increase their lobbying budget, well... that's a scary future for my country.
- arohner 16y ago
  > If the government starts intentionally causing problems for them with the intent of forcing them to increase their lobbying budget, well... that's a scary future for my country. I think that's already the case. The article demonstrates Sen. Rockafeller (ironic, isn't it?) already pulled the "if you're innocent, what do you have to hide" card.
- fgf 16y ago
  I'm sure they want their cut but I think some of the reason for this might be more pathetic: "“It’s unfortunate because they are a major player in this area, and we are going to continue to have a long, in-depth conversation,” on these topics, said Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)" My first thought was that this is a man whose biggest fear is irrelevancy. Wich fits well with my assumption that politics is full of narcissists.
- billswift 16y ago
  >that's a scary future for my country. Don't you mean "a scary past"? There were lots of claims that the real reason Clinton's "justice" department started actually prosecuting Microsoft was that MS wasn't donating enough money to politicians' re-election campaigns. (These claims actually made it into print, since I didn't have an internet connection back then, and I remember reading about it as it was happening.)
philwelch 16y ago
The Senate has hearings all the time, largely to magnify their own sense of self-importance. When people who do real work refuse to show up it punctures this illusion and pisses them off. This would be a lot more comic if the Senate didn't have the power to make legislation.
maxharris 16y ago
America needs capitalism, a system it embraced fleetingly in the ninteenth century. Capitalism requires a complete and total separation of state from economics, just as we have a separation of state from church. To get there, we need a moral revolution in which altruism is replaced by long-term rational self-interest as the moral ideal. Without this moral basis and justification, the traces of capitalism in our mixed economy will continue to be eroded, and innovative corporations such as present-day Apple will face ever-increasing pressure to given in to the politics of pull.
- hga 16y ago
  "Capitalism requires a complete and total separation of state from economics" How do you fund the state, which is required for the provision of certain public goods like the common defense and that in most libertarian schemes enforces contracts? Also, modern societies cede a monopoly on the legitimate use of force outside of self-defense to the state, which prevents revenge cycles (vendetta) and allows trust beyond families and clans. The US and Japan are high trust societies and that makes a big difference in being able to do business (contract enforcement is a last and generally unsatisfactory resort) and all sorts of things we think as good. I think among other things that needs a state of more than minimal strength.
  - maxharris 16y ago
    "How do you fund the state...?" The government should sell optional contract insurance, which gives the contractual parties the right to go to court (or perhaps expedited enforcement in court) if the contract is not met. The rate should be capped at some small percentage of the contract's value - say 1%. But the exact method doesn't really matter; in a society that such as the one I am speaking of, surely there will be many who will see the obvious selfish gain in maintaining a limited government that it totally dedicated to the defense of their individual rights.
  - billswift 16y ago
    Actually, I don't think taxes would necessarily violate a separation, if the taxes were not attempting to manipulate the economy by favoring this or punishing that. A single-rate income tax, sales taxes, property taxes, and the like could effectively be "economy-neutral", that is neither benefiting some unfairly nor being an excessive drag. The big problem is with government regulation.
tedunangst 16y ago
And on Thursday, the FBI launched an investigation of a security breach that revealed information about some 100,000 iPad users, including those working on Capitol Hill and in the White House. A good reporter would have mentioned who the FBI is investigating.

14 points by jamesbritt 16y ago

hga 16y ago

How come I have difficultly reading those two comments by Senators as anything more than a thinly veiled "Nice company you have here, it would be a shame if anything happened to it." It would be ironic if D.C. brings Apple down; they may think they're safe with Gore on their board but I wonder how much juice he has nowadays, with AGW having at best perception problems (for better or worse, the truth doesn't matter WRT to how D.C. views and treats things).

jamesbritt 16y ago
"Leave the gun. Take the iPad."
bradleyland 16y ago
It's like a chapter out of an Ayn Rand novel. I almost can't believe my eyes.
- hga 16y ago
  There's a whole lot of truth in her novels: she was born in 1905 and grew up and was educated in Russia/the Soviet Union, she saw this all first hand. E.g. the confiscation of her father's pharmacy, her being purged from her university just before graduation since she wasn't a Communist (in a Communist country being a party member is a privilege and they certainly wouldn't have accepted a class enemy like her, had she been so inclined to try), etc. (Complaints from visiting foreign scientists allowed a few, including her, to eventually graduate.)

jamesbritt 16y ago

Here's something that really caught my eye: When Apple didn’t participate in an April hearing on children’s online privacy, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, gave voice to his suspicions. "When people don’t show up when we ask them to ... all it does is increases our interest in what they’re doing and why they didn’t show up," Rockefeller said of Apple and Google, which both declined to testify. "It was a stupid mistake for them not to show up, and I say shame on them." Wow. So, when you're, you know, "asked" to appear, you better damn well appear, or become a target.

JoelPM 16y ago
No kidding. When I read Rockefeller's comment I couldn't help but think of a spoiled child who didn't get his way. I don't think it's hard to figure out why they didn't show up: they didn't see any value in what was happening.
- barrkel 16y ago
  That's how democracy works, alas.
CapitalistCartr 16y ago
Extortion, If you play the game of the American country, doing your job and are successful, but you ignore Inside the Beltway, they come looking for you. They are predators, who seek power as their feast.

drivebyacct 16y ago

I hate what Apple's doing and I'm a HUGE Android fanboy, but this seems way out of Congress's jurisdiction or list of important things.

mrshoe 16y ago

While Apple’s success has earned rock-star status in Silicon Valley, its low-wattage approach in Washington is becoming more glaring to policymakers. This to me sounds like senators saying, "We see that you're making a ton of money, and we want our cut." I'm glad Apple doesn't spend much money on lobbying (see http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-lobbying-spending-for-tech-companies-2010-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-lobbying-spe...). If the government starts intentionally causing problems for them with the intent of forcing them to increase their lobbying budget, well... that's a scary future for my country.

arohner 16y ago
> If the government starts intentionally causing problems for them with the intent of forcing them to increase their lobbying budget, well... that's a scary future for my country. I think that's already the case. The article demonstrates Sen. Rockafeller (ironic, isn't it?) already pulled the "if you're innocent, what do you have to hide" card.
fgf 16y ago
I'm sure they want their cut but I think some of the reason for this might be more pathetic: "“It’s unfortunate because they are a major player in this area, and we are going to continue to have a long, in-depth conversation,” on these topics, said Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)" My first thought was that this is a man whose biggest fear is irrelevancy. Wich fits well with my assumption that politics is full of narcissists.
billswift 16y ago
>that's a scary future for my country. Don't you mean "a scary past"? There were lots of claims that the real reason Clinton's "justice" department started actually prosecuting Microsoft was that MS wasn't donating enough money to politicians' re-election campaigns. (These claims actually made it into print, since I didn't have an internet connection back then, and I remember reading about it as it was happening.)

philwelch 16y ago

The Senate has hearings all the time, largely to magnify their own sense of self-importance. When people who do real work refuse to show up it punctures this illusion and pisses them off. This would be a lot more comic if the Senate didn't have the power to make legislation.

maxharris 16y ago

America needs capitalism, a system it embraced fleetingly in the ninteenth century. Capitalism requires a complete and total separation of state from economics, just as we have a separation of state from church. To get there, we need a moral revolution in which altruism is replaced by long-term rational self-interest as the moral ideal. Without this moral basis and justification, the traces of capitalism in our mixed economy will continue to be eroded, and innovative corporations such as present-day Apple will face ever-increasing pressure to given in to the politics of pull.

hga 16y ago
"Capitalism requires a complete and total separation of state from economics" How do you fund the state, which is required for the provision of certain public goods like the common defense and that in most libertarian schemes enforces contracts? Also, modern societies cede a monopoly on the legitimate use of force outside of self-defense to the state, which prevents revenge cycles (vendetta) and allows trust beyond families and clans. The US and Japan are high trust societies and that makes a big difference in being able to do business (contract enforcement is a last and generally unsatisfactory resort) and all sorts of things we think as good. I think among other things that needs a state of more than minimal strength.
- maxharris 16y ago
  "How do you fund the state...?" The government should sell optional contract insurance, which gives the contractual parties the right to go to court (or perhaps expedited enforcement in court) if the contract is not met. The rate should be capped at some small percentage of the contract's value - say 1%. But the exact method doesn't really matter; in a society that such as the one I am speaking of, surely there will be many who will see the obvious selfish gain in maintaining a limited government that it totally dedicated to the defense of their individual rights.
- billswift 16y ago
  Actually, I don't think taxes would necessarily violate a separation, if the taxes were not attempting to manipulate the economy by favoring this or punishing that. A single-rate income tax, sales taxes, property taxes, and the like could effectively be "economy-neutral", that is neither benefiting some unfairly nor being an excessive drag. The big problem is with government regulation.

tedunangst 16y ago

And on Thursday, the FBI launched an investigation of a security breach that revealed information about some 100,000 iPad users, including those working on Capitol Hill and in the White House. A good reporter would have mentioned who the FBI is investigating.