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It is possible that because of the nature of counterintelligence investigations, the individual companies agreed to gag orders while law enforcement does its wo

It is possible that because of the nature of counterintelligence investigations, the individual companies agreed to gag orders while law enforcement does its work. Also, these companies want to continue to do business in China, and likely do not want to be on the record accusing the government of a massive criminal conspiracy.

okket 8y ago
How can gag orders force companies to write such press statements? Outright lying is financial suicide. Shareholders can and will sue the company.
- unit91 8y ago
  Agreed. Also lying to your shareholders is illegal, providing additional incentive not to write the press release.
  - ethbro 8y ago
    On the other hand, with this splashed across the front page of most news sites, they couldn't really stay silent.
- qaq 8y ago
  Statements are very specific so it's easy to craft them in such a way that it basically respects the gag order and does not actually contain any untrue statement. Even " Apple has never found malicious chips, “hardware manipulations” or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server." Would this statement hold true if it was found not by Apple? "Apple never had any contact with the FBI or any other agency about such an incident." If Incident was being handled by 3d party private entity which was in contact with some gov entity this would hold true. "We are not aware of any investigation by the FBI, nor are our contacts in law enforcement." If it was contacted by entity other than FBI this would hold true.
  - wstuartcl 8y ago
    Also national security related investigations are highly segmented in corporations -- in the company the size of apple for instance there may be a handful of people with knowledge that the investigation is ongoing or even exists. Its not like the PR department (or even the full board) may be aware of its existence.
zabuni 8y ago
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/10/what-businessweek-got-wrong-about-apple/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/10/what-businessweek-got... Finally, in response to questions we have received from other news organizations since Businessweek published its story, we are not under any kind of gag order or other confidentiality obligations.
- bparsons 8y ago
  Interesting. Doesn't get much clearer than that.

okket 8y ago

How can gag orders force companies to write such press statements? Outright lying is financial suicide. Shareholders can and will sue the company.

unit91 8y ago
Agreed. Also lying to your shareholders is illegal, providing additional incentive not to write the press release.
- ethbro 8y ago
  On the other hand, with this splashed across the front page of most news sites, they couldn't really stay silent.
qaq 8y ago
Statements are very specific so it's easy to craft them in such a way that it basically respects the gag order and does not actually contain any untrue statement. Even " Apple has never found malicious chips, “hardware manipulations” or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server." Would this statement hold true if it was found not by Apple? "Apple never had any contact with the FBI or any other agency about such an incident." If Incident was being handled by 3d party private entity which was in contact with some gov entity this would hold true. "We are not aware of any investigation by the FBI, nor are our contacts in law enforcement." If it was contacted by entity other than FBI this would hold true.
- wstuartcl 8y ago
  Also national security related investigations are highly segmented in corporations -- in the company the size of apple for instance there may be a handful of people with knowledge that the investigation is ongoing or even exists. Its not like the PR department (or even the full board) may be aware of its existence.

zabuni 8y ago

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/10/what-businessweek-got-wrong-about-apple/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/10/what-businessweek-got... Finally, in response to questions we have received from other news organizations since Businessweek published its story, we are not under any kind of gag order or other confidentiality obligations.

bparsons 8y ago
Interesting. Doesn't get much clearer than that.