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I don’t agree with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s stances, but I also feel like keeping a list of each state that violates human rights is not in Tim Cook’s or S
by S_A_P 8y ago
I don’t agree with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s stances, but I also feel like keeping a list of each state that violates human rights is not in Tim Cook’s or Sundar Pichai’s job description. If we are just being honest with ourselves the list of countries in which you can do business approaches 0 if we call out the violators. Secondly, the last time I checked a company’s mandate is to abide by the laws of the country in which it conducts business and to make a profit for shareholders. I’m all for exceeding this goal, but it should not be incumbent upon a company to follow the geopolitical climate and react.
- thatoneyouthrow 8y agoThey are helping them violate human rights. Therefore, they do have a list. It's just the wrong type of list.
- S_A_P 8y agoA lot of assumptions here. Do they know that is the explicit purpose of the app? Has it been reported? Again I don’t agree with their policies, but who’s job is it to keep track? I would think the press. However since the business mandate seems to be peddling outrage it’s easy for things to get lost in the Twittersphere.
- lern_too_spel 8y agoAccording to Business Insider's reporting, in addition to setting travel restrictions for dependents (which includes adult women in KSA), the app also allows you to pay parking tickets.
- wnevets 8y agoSo if its legal to commit genocide in a particular country, you're totally ok with US companies helping to do so?
- asdff 8y agoYou don't need to follow geopolitics very closely to see the piss poor optics of having any association with Saudi Arabia.
- artificial 8y agoAs long as people enjoy the products well enough in practice they'll agree (enough). Diamonds, Chocolate, borderline slave labor with no environmental laws providing cheap electronics to name a few.
- swebs 8y agoIt doesn't seem to have affected Twitter very much.
- int_19h 8y agoSure. So let's pass laws and slap some serious sanctions on KSA. If there is a country that deserves them, it's this one.
- mschuster91 8y agoThe problem is that sanctions have to be enforced, and the current US government is... severely lacking in that aspect: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-28/the-trump-administration-loves-issuing-sanctions-not-enforcing-them https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-28/the-trump...
- int_19h 8y agoYep. And not just the present one - Saudis have a strong lobby. But we're still a democracy. Not a perfect one, but if enough people want something, they have the tools to make it happen.
- mschuster91 8y ago> Not a perfect one, but if enough people want something, they have the tools to make it happen. Not if they live in heavily gerrymandered districts or in deep-blue/red states, or if they are affected by voter disenfranchisement, or if they cannot afford leave their job to go to vote.
- JetSpiegel 8y agoSeems to be working for Venezuela, my local embassy got their accounts frozen on a local bank.
- rsynnott 8y agoThis isn't a case of keeping a list of abusive states, it's a case of hosting an app which is literally part of the mechanism by which an abusive state abuses people.