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Something about this article feels "off", as if it were a fabricated and unsubstantiated story meant purely to sow uncertainty over the integrity of Apple's sec

Something about this article feels "off", as if it were a fabricated and unsubstantiated story meant purely to sow uncertainty over the integrity of Apple's security in China. It felt off enough that I bothered to look into who this "sixth tone" publication is and create a throw-away -- according to foreignpolicy.com[1], it's affiliated with and at least partially funded by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group. [1] http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/03/china-explained-sixth-tone-is-chinas-latest-party-approved-outlet-humanizing-news/ http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/03/china-explained-sixth-to...

maxaf 9y ago
TFA does read like... drumroll... fake news!
gruez 9y ago
>it's affiliated with and at least partially funded by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group. what's the motivation for the chinese government here? if anything it makes china look bad because the sequence of events are: 1. force foreign company to relocate data there 2. apple moves user data there to comply 3. surprise! china facility gets hacked
- threwaway-1 9y ago
  4. Chinese populous resigns themselves to the eluded-to fact that Apple's devices will not offer privacy from the state even though it's only iCloud that we presume to be affected; consumer buys domestic device that is easier to spy on 5. Surveillance state mission accomplished! I don't know, I suppose when you insert a state actor, it's the conspiracy equivalent of Godwin's Law.
konceptz 9y ago
One area to explore is the editor listed as David Paulk. https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaulk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaulk/ https://twitter.com/davidpaulk https://twitter.com/davidpaulk At first glance his twitter feed looks pretty normal for a journalist from US living in China.
jtbayly 9y ago
So what's your takeaway? I would assume that the last thing the state would want to do is sow uncertainty about Apple's security in China. This would lead me to the conclusion that the story is real. However, I can imagine another scenario. Assume that Apple's storage in China is still entirely safe from the state, but that Apple's main competitors are totally in bed with the state. In that case, the state could want to get people off of Apple, even as Apple moves the data into China.
- threwaway-1 9y ago
  The latter would be my takeaway as well, based on how effectively Google's search technology was extricated from China -- to Baidu's and the surveillance state's benefit, despite the results from Baidu being about as effective at finding useful information as AltaVista was at the end of it's reign.

maxaf 9y ago

TFA does read like... drumroll... fake news!

gruez 9y ago

>it's affiliated with and at least partially funded by the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group. what's the motivation for the chinese government here? if anything it makes china look bad because the sequence of events are: 1. force foreign company to relocate data there 2. apple moves user data there to comply 3. surprise! china facility gets hacked

threwaway-1 9y ago
4. Chinese populous resigns themselves to the eluded-to fact that Apple's devices will not offer privacy from the state even though it's only iCloud that we presume to be affected; consumer buys domestic device that is easier to spy on 5. Surveillance state mission accomplished! I don't know, I suppose when you insert a state actor, it's the conspiracy equivalent of Godwin's Law.

konceptz 9y ago

One area to explore is the editor listed as David Paulk. https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaulk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaulk/ https://twitter.com/davidpaulk https://twitter.com/davidpaulk At first glance his twitter feed looks pretty normal for a journalist from US living in China.

jtbayly 9y ago

So what's your takeaway? I would assume that the last thing the state would want to do is sow uncertainty about Apple's security in China. This would lead me to the conclusion that the story is real. However, I can imagine another scenario. Assume that Apple's storage in China is still entirely safe from the state, but that Apple's main competitors are totally in bed with the state. In that case, the state could want to get people off of Apple, even as Apple moves the data into China.

threwaway-1 9y ago
The latter would be my takeaway as well, based on how effectively Google's search technology was extricated from China -- to Baidu's and the surveillance state's benefit, despite the results from Baidu being about as effective at finding useful information as AltaVista was at the end of it's reign.